Quality Investing: Owning the best companies for the long term Hardcover – 5 Jan. 2016

...my advice would be to read this one.I've read lots and lots of book on investing, but I'd recommend this one above them all. The main thesis of the book is to concentrate on quality companies rather than cheap shares. The idea being that companies with a competitive advantage that are well run and make consistent returns turn out, in the long-run to give higher returns.A look back at history proves this to be the case. So I suggest reading, digesting and acting, and you should be on the correct track.

Enjoyed reading about how AKO define quality and some of the things to avoid (or seek out in the case of shorts!) The authors provide good examples of a variety of types of businesses with strong economic moats in sometimes atypical ways. Not sure that I agree that quality is worth any price, but can see their point on how the market misses the lack of operational volatility and the ability to reinvest cash flow in productive ways.

Think of this book as an updated version of Common stocks and uncommon profits. The book makes the simple argument that for a buy and hold investor quality is important and describes these attributes which Mr Buffett describes as "moats". However, it seems that price is never given much consideration by the author although the price is important because it gives you a margin of safety.Value is also important because if the price paid for a stock is near/beyond its intrinsic value then the likelihood of making a good return is much diminished. To put things in perspective when IBM was riding high in the mid-90s and a stock was purchased with 1% dividend yield for a buy and hold investor the annual returns would have only been 8% per year over 23 years. However, if the investor managed to purchase this stocks with a 4% or more dividend annual returns would have been at least 18%. A compound interest of 10% difference produces a magnitude of a difference. Therefore quality can only help you if you managed to purchase it at a sensible price.Nevertheless, I give this book 4 stars because it emphasises on the importance of focusing on the business rather than creating elaborate maths which forego reality to make an investment decision.

Insightful, plenty of useful content, well written.

Wonderful book. Very useful for someone that wants to build an effective framework to find and analyse great businesses.

A very clear and engaging book, including solid examples - you will learn something out of it, whether you have just started to invest or are a more seasoned investor

Like simple straight forward ideas we all think about in finance but hardly put into practise. Should be a must for all beginners and a recommended refresher for more experienced market participants.

No insights, just basic observations. For actual analysis, read Competition Demystified which goes way beyond Quality Investing in terms of identifying high quality companies.