Focus on Value

Book excerpt: Praise for Focus on Value "Focus on Value-with its theoretical and practical focus on economic profit fundamentals-is a modern day 'Graham and Dodd' primer on company and equity securities analysis."-Robert S. Hamada, Edward Eagle Brown Distinguished Service Professor of Finance, The University of Chicago Graduate School of Business "Now that investors have abandoned momentum and are migrating back to fundamental investing, the market has become a more rational place. This book is a manual for serious investors who believe that identifying growing corporate earning power is the foundation of value creation. Those following its precepts should minimize risk and be rewarded over the long term."-Byron R. Wien, Chief U.S. Investment Strategist, Morgan Stanley Dean Witter & Co. "Economic profit is one of the most useful managerial tools as well as a key to understanding the valuation of companies. Focus on Value is an outstanding piece of work. It captures the full spectrum of the 'Metric Wars' without ever confusing the reader. The serious student of economic profit will be richly rewarded by reading this excellent book from cover to cover."-Mario A. Corti, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Swissair Group, Zurich "Messrs. Grant and Abate have provided an analytical tool for corporate executives and investment managers which takes the concepts of economic profit and value maximization to the next level."-Suresh Thadhani, Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President, Alcan, Inc. "This book makes a real contribution to the most critical element in helping companies implement efficient capital resource allocation by highlighting the direct linkage between economic profit and stock price."-Jack Warner, Chairman, Kerry Inc. "The authors have put together an excellent piece of work and finally provide readers seriously interested in applying economic profit with a practical, market-oriented approach to integrate the basic building blocks of economic profit with valuation and market expectations."-David King, Director of Research, North America, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Corporate Value Consulting "In an era of following the herd toward indexation and price momentum, it is refreshing to see thinking out of the box and substantiating the tenets of an investment process that equates value with real investment opportunity."-Eric Colson, Senior Vice President, Callan Associates www.wileyfinance.com