Studying value investors is most useful when it improves the questions you ask about a company. This guide focuses on research approaches and original sources, rather than current portfolio positions or performance rankings. The broader framework is in Value Investing.
Benjamin Graham: start with financial evidence
Graham and David Dodd helped establish the analytical tradition behind modern value investing; Columbia Business School's historical overview explains their role. For a researcher, the practical starting point is to separate verifiable assets and liabilities from a story about future improvement.
Ask: Are the assets available to common shareholders? What claims come first? How quickly is cash being used? Compare the Graham screening workflow with the NCAV stock table, then investigate the risk checklist.
Warren Buffett: estimate the economics of ownership
Berkshire's 1989 shareholder letter discusses intrinsic value in terms of future business cash flows and the limits of accounting book value. That distinction is helpful when a company's economic strengths are not captured by its reported net assets.
Ask: How durable are the economics? What reinvestment is required? Is the valuation dependent on unusually favorable conditions? Use earning power to frame those questions before comparing the business with its price.
Charlie Munger and the quality question
Buffett's discussion in the same 1989 letter credits Charlie Munger with the emphasis on paying sensible prices for strong businesses. Turn that idea into a verification task: identify the claimed business advantage, then examine evidence that it persists across customers, competitors, and economic conditions.
Quality does not produce a single correct purchase multiple. Write down what must remain true for your estimated value to hold, and investigate the consequences if those conditions change.
Convert an investor's idea into a research note
For any thesis, keep a short record: the value estimate, the evidence, competing explanations, required capital, management incentives, and the downside case. Update the record when the business changes. A famous name does not validate an out-of-date filing, an unreconciled share count, or a valuation built on the wrong currency.
Continue with research resources and original letters, earnings quality, and the composite screener.