The Interpretation of Financial Statements

blockquote"All investors, from beginners to old hands, should gain from the use of this guide, as I have." brFrom the Introduction by Michael F. Price, president, Franklin Mutual Advisors, Inc./blockquote pBenjamin Graham has been called the most important investment thinker of the twentieth century. As a master investor, pioneering stock analyst, and mentor to investment superstars, he has no peer. pThe volume you hold in your hands is Graham's timeless guide to interpreting and understanding financial statements. It has long been out of print, but now joins Graham's other masterpieces, iThe Intelligent Investor/i and ISecurity Analysis,/I as the three priceless keys to understanding Graham and value investing. pThe advice he offers in this book is as useful and prescient today as it was sixty years ago. As he writes in the preface, "if you have precise information as to a company's present financial position and its past earnings record, you are better equipped to gauge its future possibilities. And this is the essential function and value of security analysis." pWritten just three years after his landmark iSecurity Analysis, The Interpretation of Financial Statements/i gets to the heart of the master's ideas on value investing in astonishingly few pages. Readers will learn to analyze a company's balance sheets and income statements and arrive at a true understanding of its financial position and earnings record. Graham provides simple tests any reader can apply to determine the financial health and well-being of any company. pThis volume is an exact text replica of the first edition of iThe Interpretation of Financial Statements,/i published by Harper Brothers in 1937. Graham's original language has been restored, and readers can be assured that every idea and technique presented here appears exactly as Graham intended. p Highly practical and accessible, it is an essential guide for all business people--and makes the perfect companion volume to Graham's investment masterpiece iThe Intelligent Investor. /i