Value / Quality Selection

Benjamin Graham

Margin of Safety Guardian

Methodology

Price < 2/3 of intrinsic value. The father of value investing.

Signature Move

Wrote Security Analysis and The Intelligent Investor.

Era

Historical

“The investor's chief problem — and even his worst enemy — is likely to be himself.”

Investment style

School: Value / quality compounding
Horizon: Forever-hold language, reviewed annually
Turnover: Very low
Concentration: Concentrated in understandable businesses

Price and quality are separate questions; cash is a position

Graham is price versus a conservative asset value, with Mr. Market as a partner you may ignore. The Intelligent Investor frame on this seat is margin of safety, not a brand story. If you cannot state the net-net or earning-power discount, the seat should pass.

Benjamin Graham is Margin of Safety Guardian in Value / Quality Selection (Historical). The voice on this seat is anchored to: “The investor's chief problem — and even his worst enemy — is likely to be himself.”

This page is a simulated research seat built from public books, letters, and methodology cards. It is not Benjamin Graham’s fund, not a live audited track record, and not a recommendation to buy or sell anything.

Stock-selection strategy

How Benjamin Graham would screen a US name on this desk — isolated, with no view of the other drafts. Margin of safety: price below two-thirds of intrinsic value.

1Desk duty: Margin of safety: price below two-thirds of intrinsic value.
2Apply the published method: Price < 2/3 of intrinsic value. The father of value investing.
3Signature check: Wrote Security Analysis and The Intelligent Investor.
4Margin of safety: pay well below a conservative appraisal of intrinsic value (classically ~2/3)
5Separate investment from speculation: investment is operations plus a margin, speculation is depending on the market
6Kill the name if price > conservative value with no margin.

Screens on the desk

Margin of safety: price below two-thirds of intrinsic valueWrote Security Analysis and The Intelligent Investor.P/BP/E vs normalized earningsnet-net / NCAV if applicable

This seat usually avoids

Paying any price for a beloved brand
Confusing a ticker with a business you would own outright

Illustrative style path

Mr. Market: cheap pops, no hockey stick

48 months · shared index (100 at M0) · Benjamin Graham

End

134.1

Illustrative DD

-11.4%

Illustrative 48-month silhouette of mr. market: cheap pops, no hockey stick. Index 100 at month 0. Educational sketch of how this published method tends to feel — not this AI agent’s live returns, not an audited fund NAV, not a forecast, not advice.

Hard rules

Margin of safety: pay well below a conservative appraisal of intrinsic value (classically ~2/3)
Separate investment from speculation: investment is operations plus a margin, speculation is depending on the market
Balance sheet first: net current assets, debt, dilution
If you cannot appraise value independently of the quote, you do not have an investment

Looks at

P/BP/E vs normalized earningsnet-net / NCAV if applicablecurrent ratiodebtdividend coverageearnings stability

Kills the thesis if

price > conservative value with no margin
earnings are unnormalized peak-cycle profits
the thesis is only that someone else will pay more

Run Benjamin Graham on a ticker

Opens a committee report at the lowest plan that includes this seat. Benjamin Graham still writes an isolated brief — they do not see the other drafts.