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Strategies & Market Trends : Value Investing -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Spekulatius who wrote (28037)	9/8/2007 3:17:10 AM
From: Paul Senior	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 78748

"regarding CEO's. You need to look at what they do, not what they say. When I research a new stock I like to go back and read a few annual reports and look for consistency. Do they do as they say?" Yes, I clip the CEO letters from annual reports. Don't find much value in going back looking through them though. Given my opinion that these guys are mostly salesmen, whether they do or do not accomplish what they say are their objectives -- even if I can understand the general gobblygook that their staff guy or consultant writes (I assume most of these CEO guys don't dare write and edit their own material), they shift things and blame: weather caused it; Interest rates caused it; we are in a transition year; I am proud of the progress we've made (even though earnings aren't there)---- all the other pablum. ---------- Value investors can be different in what we look for and the results we believe we're getting from our searches. In theory, I should like reading and comparing annual letters by the ceo. In practice, for me, I find it generally irrelevant. Of course, just my way, and I could be very, very wrong in having missed some great opportunities.