The Manual of Ideas: The Proven Framework for Finding the Best Value Investments -- Copyright -- Contents -- Foreword -- Preface -- Chapter 1: A Highly Personal Endeavor: What Do You Want to Own? -- Give Your Money to Warren Buffett, or Invest It Yourself? -- Cast Yourself in the Role of Capital Allocator -- Role versus Objective: A Subtle but Important Distinction -- The Buck Stops Here -- The Scale of Investments: How Much Is a Billion Dollars, Really? -- Owner Mentality -- Adopting the Right Mind-Set -- Stock Selection Framework -- Key Takeaways -- Notes -- Chapter 2: Deep Value: Ben Graham-Style Bargains: Inelegant but Profitable Strategy of Cigar Butt Investing -- The Approach: Why It Works -- Track Record Dating Back to the Father of Security Analysis -- Some Companies Are Worth More Dead Than Alive -- Investors' Obsession with Income -- Uses and Misuses of Ben Graham-Style Investing -- The Rewards of Psychological Discomfort -- Not a Low-Turnover, Long-Term-Oriented Investment Approach -- Beware of Portfolio Concentration in the Land of Cigar Butts -- Screening for Graham-Style Bargains -- Ben Graham's Net Net Screen -- Martin Whitman's Modified Net Net Screen -- Enhanced Screening: Repurchases, Insider Buying, Shrinking Working Capital Requirements -- Beyond Screening: Working through a List of Deep Value Candidates -- Adjusting Balance Sheet Values in a Liquidation Scenario -- Companies at Cyclical Lows versus Those in Secular Decline -- Oxymoron or Opportunity: Net Nets with Non-Capital-Intensive Businesses -- Asking the Right Questions of Graham-Style Bargains -- Is Value Growing, Staying Flat, or Shrinking over Time? -- Is Liquidation Value Really Much Higher Than Market Value? -- What Is the Catalyst to Unlocking Value? -- Key Takeaways -- Notes -- Chapter 3: Sum-of-the-Parts Value: Investing in Companies with Excess or Hidden Assets.

The Approach: Why It Works -- Uses and Misuses of Investing in Companies with Overlooked Assets -- Is an Identifiable Asset Really a Separate Asset? -- What Is the Catalyst to Unlocking Noncore Value? -- Is the Offer "Buy One, Get One Free" or "Buy 10, Get One Free"? -- Screening for Companies with Multiple Assets -- Companies with Multiple Operating Businesses -- Companies with Large Holdings of Net Cash -- Companies with Investments in Other Companies -- Companies with Large Real Estate Holdings -- Beyond Screening: Proven Ways of Finding Hidden Assets -- Scrutinizing the Holdings of Smart Investor-Detectives -- Combing through Areas of Specific Opportunity -- Building a Watchlist of Companies with Hidden Value -- Asking the Right Questions of Companies with Hidden Assets -- To What Extent Are the Hidden Assets Really Overlooked? -- What Is the Investment Case without the Noncore Assets? -- What Is the Path to Value Capture? -- Key Takeaways -- Notes -- Chapter 4: Greenblatt's Magic Search for Good and Cheap Stocks -- The Approach: Why It Works -- The Magic of Making Money -- The Magic of a Low Price -- Future Outperformance: Not Guaranteed, but Likely -- Uses and Misuses of Investing in Good and Cheap Companies -- Know Thyself (and Know Thy Clients) -- Diversification versus Concentration -- Leave It or Tweak It? -- Screening for Good and Cheap Companies -- Replicating Greenblatt's Winning Screen -- Replacing the Rearview Mirror with Consensus Estimates -- Going International -- Beyond Screening: Hope for Improvement Springs Eternal -- Throwing Out Capital-Intensive Businesses -- What's the Right Way to Account for Brand Value? -- Nonlinear Ways of Combining Good and Cheap -- Asking the Right Questions of Greenblatt-Style Bargains -- How Durable Is the Firm's Competitive Advantage? -- Opportunity to Reinvest Capital at High Rates of Return?.

How Good Are Management's Capital Allocation Practices? -- Are There Any Disqualifying Factors? -- Key Takeaways -- Notes -- Chapter 5: Jockey Stocks: Making Money alongside Great Managers -- The Approach: Why It Works -- Uses and Misuses of Investing in Jockeys -- Appearances May Be Deceiving -- The Compensation Factor -- Mind the Attitude -- What Happens in the Boardroom . . . -- Not All Situations Are Created Equal -- Screening for Jockey Stocks -- Management Ability -- Management Incentives -- Capital Allocation Ability -- Beyond Screening: Building a Rolodex of Great Managers -- Asking the Right Questions of Management -- Key Takeaways -- Notes -- Chapter 6: Follow the Leaders: Finding Opportunity in Superinvestor Portfolios -- Superinvestors Are Super for a Reason -- How Superinvestors Add Real Value to Companies -- Have Superinvestor Disclosures Been Arbitraged Away? -- Uses and Misuses of Superinvestor Tracking -- When the Going Gets Tough, Where Is the Conviction? -- The Importance of Context: Why, Not Just What -- Screening for Companies Owned by Superinvestors -- Deciding Which Superinvestors to Track-and Which to Ignore -- The Superinvestors of Buffettsville -- Scouring News and SEC Filings for Superinvestor Activity -- Homing in on High-Conviction Ideas -- Beyond Screening: What Makes a Company Attractive to Superinvestors? -- One Step Ahead: Anticipating Superinvestor Moves -- Know Your Superinvestors-Defining Style Buckets -- Does It Ever Pay to Go against Superinvestor Herds? -- Key Takeaways -- Notes -- Chapter 7: Small Stocks, Big Returns?: The Opportunity in Underfollowed Small- and Micro-Caps -- The Approach: Why It Works -- Sources of Inefficiency in Small-Cap Investing -- Steering a Speedboat Rather Than a Cruise Ship -- The Numbers Don't Lie: Small Is Beautiful -- Uses and Misuses of Investing in Small Companies.

The Underfollowed-Equals-Inefficient Fallacy -- A Chance to Know What You Own -- If You Might Need the Money, Mind the Liquidity -- Screening for Promising Small- and Micro-Caps -- Removing the Chaff with a Basic Investability Screen -- Zeroing in on Investable Companies Meeting Specific Criteria -- Beyond Screening: Other Ways of Finding Compelling Small- and Micro-Cap Ideas -- Big to Small, Small to Small, or Small to Big: Where Is This Company Going? -- Hidden Inflection Points and How to Uncover Them -- Asking the Right Questions of Small-Cap Prospects -- Did a Company Pass the Right Screen for the Wrong Reason? -- Do the Financial Statements Raise Any Red Flags? -- Who Has Been Buying and Selling the Shares? -- What Is Management's Attitude toward Outside Shareholders? -- Where Are the Shares Relative to Their Historical Range? -- Moving on to the Subjective Qualities of a Business -- Key Takeaways -- Notes -- Chapter 8: Special Situations: Uncovering Opportunity in Event-Driven Investments -- The Approach: Why It Works -- The Rewards of Obscurity -- Informational and Analytical Inefficiencies -- Uses and Misuses of Investing in Special Situations -- The Danger of Robotic Analysis -- Timing as a Driver of Annualized Returns -- Positive Spillover Effects -- Uncovering Special Situations -- Hacking Traditional Screeners to Identify Special Opportunities -- Other Ways of Building a Pipeline of Event-Driven Ideas -- A Step Ahead: Uncovering Equities That May Become Special Situations -- Asking the Right Questions of Special Situations -- What Is the Source of Potential Inefficiency? -- What Is the Margin of Safety? -- What Is the Path to Value Creation? -- Key Takeaways -- Notes -- Chapter 9: Equity Stubs: Investing (or Speculating?) in Leveraged Companies -- The Approach: Why It Works -- Uses and Misuses of Investing in Equity Stubs.

Avoiding Biases -- Who Owns the Debt? -- When the Stars Align -- Screening for Equity Stubs -- Private Equity in Public Markets -- Distressed Equities -- Beyond Screening: An Ambulance-Chasing Approach -- Asking the Right Questions of Equity Stubs -- How Vested Is Management in the Common Stock? -- Are Business Fundamentals Improving or Getting Worse? -- What Is the Nature of the Leverage? -- Key Takeaways -- Notes -- Chapter 10: International Value Investments: Searching for Value beyond Home Country Borders -- The Approach: Why It Works -- A Different Animal -- The Value of Choice -- Uses and Misuses of Investing in International Equities -- Don't Assume You Know Who You Are Dealing With -- The Pitfalls of Chasing Growth in Emerging Markets -- Making Money amid Challenging Demographic Conditions -- Practical Trading Considerations -- Clarity through Extremist Thinking -- Screening for International Equities -- Go Anywhere or Stick to Investable Markets? -- Beyond Screening: Riding the Coattails of Regional Experts -- Asking the Right Questions of International Equities -- A Question for Europe: How Global Is the Business? -- A Question for India: What's the Right Concentration? -- A Question for Japan: What's an ROE? -- Key Takeaways -- Notes -- References -- About the Author -- Index.