Short and Simple. This is Joel Greenblatt’s presentation of the Magic Formula (return on capital and earnings yield). You can play around with the magic formula by using the great investment tool built specifically for this book. “The Little Book” is undoubtedly one of the best investment books of the last half century. Required reading. Foreword by Andrew Tobias.
Very readable book focused on spinoffs, rights offerings, merger securities, bankruptcies, restructurings, and recapitalizations. Each subject is imbued with Greenblatt’s investing insights and peppered with concrete examples.
Includes a section listing worthwhile investing books and publications as well as a good discussion of cash flow. The cherry on top is an often humorous glossary.
This book is more specific than “The Little Book”; and, therefore, will probably prove less lasting. Still, it’s definitely worthwhile. I’d recommend one of Greenblatt’s books over the other, but there’s no point – once you finish either one, no one will be able to stop you from reading the other.
An investment classic and Phil Fisher’s best known book. Highlights include the Fifteen Points to Look for in a Common Stock and the section on scuttlebutt. One of the best books on investing ever written. In many ways, it’s the founding document of the growth school of investing.
Phil Fisher’s second best book after the much better known “Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits”. Consists of three core sections: Superiority in Production, Marketing, Research, and Financial Skills; the People Factor; and Investment Characteristics of Some Business (this last section can be thought of as a discussion of franchises and of competitive advantage). Includes a fourth section: price, but that was never Fisher’s primary concern.
I like “Conservative Investors Sleep Well” just as much as I like “Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits”. However, I should warn you, I’m about the only one that values the insights in both books equally. It hardly matters, because you no longer have to choose. You can now buy them together in a single edition.