The Value Investing Approach - What Is Value Investing All About?

One investment strategy is value investing. Individuals who adopt this style of investment are called value investors. Value investors usually purchase companies whose share price could be underappreciated for some reason.

Value investors search the marker for the undervalued companies. The reason a company is thought to be undervalued is because value investors believe that the stock market overreacts to good and bad news announced by companies in the company's monthly, quarterly or annual reports. This means that in the short run share prices fluctuations have more volatility than that of the average long run price of the shares in a company. The short term swings in the price of shares leaves value investors with a good opportunity to make a quick buck.

The majority of value investors seek out stocks with lower prices than the average price to book. However the value of stocks is no longer as easy to estimate as it once was. The book value of certain goods is well defined however since the advent of fast paced technological advancement and the constant changing of technological products the value of most goods is no longer so easy to predict.

The potential in value investing was first recognised by Benjamin Graham who was a lecturer from Columbia University. What Graham propagated was a cautionary approach to investing. What this means is, purchasing stocks that are relatively safe in that they don't fluctuate greatly from their book value. This protects value investors from any potential stock market shocks in the future be they good or bad.

Value investing is the a good relatively safe way for an experienced investor to make safe earnings on the stock market while minimizing risk. The fluctuations of the stock market are avoided as opposed to day traders who like the ride the waves of the stock market. Day trading is a very risky form of investment and not for the faint hearted investors.

The stock market has just as many losers as winners. For every stock sold on the market by a seller there is a buyer out there who is purchasing it. Only one of you, either the buyer or seller can be right. One of you is making a profit the other one is making a loss.

In summary - in order to be a good value investor you must have a deep understanding of the how the market works and a keen eye for how efficient the market is at any given point of time.