The Balcony: You Can Be a Stock Market Genius

The Balcony opens You Can Be a Stock Market Genius, by Joel Greenblatt, 1997. Vera: a fund manager's spinoff manual; chapter one, the pros lag the market about 1% a year before fees. Augie: his edge is knowing where to bang, the plumber on page 23. Vera: chapter three, spinoffs beat the market about 10% a year, because the shares get dumped by people who never wanted them; Host Marriott, the toxic waste, nearly tripled in four months. Augie: and a 15% drop? He says 'Don't ask.' Split verdict: keep the insiders test; keep the toxic waste, for the patient.

You Can Be a Stock Market Genius, by Joel Greenblatt, 1997, is a fund manager's manual on finding mispriced stocks in corporate events the professionals cannot touch: the pros lag the market about one percent a year before fees because their size keeps them in big, well-followed stocks, so the edge is knowing where to look, like the plumber who charges ninety-five dollars for knowing where to bang; chapter three's spinoffs beat the market by about ten percent a year because their shares are dumped by holders who never wanted them, and Host Marriott, the 'toxic waste' of the 1993 Marriott split, nearly tripled in four months, though the author will not say what a fifteen percent drop does to such a leveraged stock.

On the book: You Can Be a Stock Market Genius by Joel Greenblatt

Starring

DotVera LindqvistAugie Castellano