Graham’s greatest student, Warren Buffett, has become the
world’s most successful investor by putting new twists on
Graham’s ideas. Buffett and his partner, Charles Munger, have
combined Graham’s “margin of safety” and detachment from
the market with their own innovative emphasis on future growth.
Here is an all-too-brief summary of Buffett’s approach:
He looks for what he calls “franchise” companies with strong
consumer brands, easily understandable businesses, robust
financial health, and near-monopolies in their markets, like H & R
Block, Gillette, and the Washington Post Co. Buffett likes to
snap up a stock when a scandal, big loss, or other bad news
passes over it like a storm cloud—as when he bought Coca-Cola
soon after its disastrous rollout of “New Coke” and the market
crash of 1987. He also wants to see managers who set and
meet realistic goals; build their businesses from within rather
than through acquisition; allocate capital wisely; and do not pay
themselves hundred-million-dollar jackpots of stock options.
Buffett insists on steady and sustainable growth in earnings, so
the company will be worth more in the future than it is today.
In his annual reports, archived at www.berkshirehathaway.
com, Buffett has set out his thinking like an open book. Probably
no other investor, Graham included, has publicly revealed more
about his approach or written such compellingly readable
essays. (One classic Buffett proverb: “When a management
with a reputation for brilliance tackles a business with a reputation
for bad economics, it is the reputation of the business that
remains intact.”) Every intelligent investor can—and should—learn
by reading this master’s own words.
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