Not long ago, MagicDiligence reviewed Mary Buffett and David Clark’s Warren Buffett and the Interpretation of Financial Statem…… and concluded that, while possibly useful for beginners, experienced stock investors would dismiss the book as simplistic and adding nothing new. The review also mentioned that a good alternative for more experienced investors looking to add to their knowledge is Pat Dorsey’s The Five Rules for Successful Stock Investing.Today we’ll take a look at that book. The author, Pat Dorsey, is currently the Director of Equity Research for Morningstar. Morningstar has historically been known for their 5-star scale of mutual fund ratings, but several years ago began applying the same scale to individual stocks. Since Morningstar’s focus is on durable competitive advantage, the firm’s investing philosophy correlates very well with that of the Magic Formula and of MagicDiligence. That makes the book particularly relevant and much of my stock analysis is based on techniques outlined in it. The Five Rules… is more or less a two part book. The first half deals covers the title, laying out the five rules for successful investing and then proceeding to expand on each of them. Without spoiling too much of the book, Dorsey’s five rules are:

1) Do your homework.

2) Find economic moats.

3) Have a margin of safety.

4) Hold for the long haul.

5) Know when to sell.

This first section then continues on to introduce the investor to the techniques of stock analysis. Topics covered include detailed explanations of each financial statement, the points of emphasis to look for in a good investment (such as growth potential and financial health), how to spot accounting blowups before they happen, how to value a stock, and so forth. For everyone interested in stock analysis, from 10 year pros to those just beginning to dip their toes in the market, these chapters contain invaluable and vital information. Nearly every investor will learn something new about evaluating companies and valuing stocks. One particularly valuable chapter is titled “The 10-Minute Test”, which will help you quickly throw out stocks that are not worth your time, while highlighting investment opportunities that warrant additional research.

The second half of the book is equally useful. In this section, Dorsey calls upon Morningstar’s sector analysts to lay out the intrinsic moat qualities and the factors that separate good and bad companies in a variety of sectors, including Health Care, Consumer Services, Media, Banks, and so on. It’s no secret to MagicDiligence Members that some industries are inherently better investment hunting grounds than others, and this book explains why. For example, retail is generally a difficult place to invest – there are no customer switching costs, tons of competition, and constantly changing consumer trends. On the other hand, most medical device makers have very high switching costs, as surgeons are trained on one company’s products and are loathe to learn the intricacies of a competing product, unless there is a very good reason to do so.

To close this review, a personal observation. Most investors routinely cite classic investing books like Ben Graham’s The Intelligent Investor as the place to start for novice investors. I respectfully disagree. I’ve read many of those great classics, but no one book has explained the details of company and equity analysis as directly or relevantly as this book. This is one of the most overlooked investing books out there, and comes highly recommended to all investors. -The Motley Fool

About the Author

To make money in today’s dynamic market environment, you need to invest in companies that will perform in the face of sustained competitive pressure. But how can you accurately identify companies that are great today and likely to remain great for many years to come?

The answer to this question lies in competitive advantages, or economic moats. Just as moats were dug around medieval castles to keep the opposition at bay, economic moats protect the high returns on capital enjoyed by the world’s best companies. If you can identify companies that have moats, and you can purchase their shares at reasonable prices, you’ll begin to build a portfolio of solid businesses that will improve your odds of doing well in the stock market.

In The Little Book That Builds Wealth, author Pat Dorsey–the Director of Equity Research for leading independent investment research provider Morningstar, Inc.–outlines this proven approach and reveals how you can effectively apply it to your own investments. Step by step, Dorsey discusses why economic moats are such strong indicators of great long-term investments and examines four of their most common sources: intangible assets, cost advantages, customer-switching costs, and network economics. After establishing a firm understanding of moats, Dorsey shows you how to recognize moats that are eroding, the key role that industry structure plays in creating competitive advantage, and how management can create (as well as destroy) moats.

Along the way, Dorsey provides an informative overview of valuation–because even a wide-moat company will be a poor investment if you pay too much for its shares–and illustrates the issues addressed through case studies that apply competitive analysis to some well-known companies.

Although the moat concept is not a new one–it was made famous by Warren Buffett–the modern-day investor can benefit from what it has to offer. With The Little Book That Builds Wealth as your guide, you’ll quickly discover why moats should be an integral part of your analytical investment toolkit and learn how to leverage this approach to build a portfolio of high-performance stocks.