Warren Buffett on the Culture of Wall Street
From page 603 of The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life by Alice Schroeder
Huge markets attract people who measure themselves by money. If someone goes through life and measures themselves solely by how much they have, or how much money they earned last year, sooner or later they’re going to end up in trouble.
-Warren Buffett
I thought that the above was particularly enlightening, especially when you consider the current financial crisis. I can’t say if we’ve hit a bottom or will hit a bottom soon. What I can say is that when Mr. Market is acting like a manic depressive, you should take advantage of him. Interesting bargains are appearing. Look for companies with wide moats, good jockeys, cash per share, strong free cash flow generation, and low debt. These screen factors should provide you with the kind of armor to sustain a downturn in the business cycle while also having the ability to deploy capital and take advantage of acquisitions and investments at bargain prices.
