On the Hunt for Great Companies: An Investor's Guide to Evaluating Business Quality and Durability
- 4h 49m
- Simon Kold
- John Wiley & Sons (US)
- 2025
Essential investment guide to perform sophisticated practical analysis on long-term business quality
An unparalleled practical training tool for investment analysis, On the Hunt for Great Companies: An Investor's Guide to Evaluating Business Quality and Durability helps readers move beyond using rules of thumb for companies or investment hypotheses based on broad-level pattern recognition and instead start using a more thorough approach through sophisticated empirical analysis. Readers will learn how to assess all the essential traits of a good business, including passionate management, staying power, abnormal reinvestment options, low dependency risk, and to identify emerging quality.
This book is supported by a wealth of real-world examples, both contemporary and historical, detailed original illustrations, and true business stories and anecdotes from investor and former comedian Simon Kold. In this book, readers will learn about:
- Elements of intense and durable competitive advantage such as scale economies, switching costs, network effects, brands, proprietary resources, and modest value extraction
- Methods to formulate falsifiable test statements and empirically test those predictions, rather than relying on heuristics or box-checking
- Incorporates memorable investment advice through Kold’s trademark humorous style
Detailed, sophisticated, and highly actionable, On the Hunt for Great Companies is an essential for professional investors of all sizes, in all industries, in both public and private markets.
About the Author
SIMON KOLD is the founder of Kold Investments, a Copenhagen-based investment firm. He was previously at Novo Holdings, one of the world’s largest investment organizations, with assets worth €149 billion. He is one of the few fund managers who also has a degree in theology and had a stint in stand-up comedy.
In this Book
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Introduction
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Passion
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Long-term Incentives
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Capital Allocation
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Reliable Communication
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Economies of Scale
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Switching Costs
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Network Effects
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Brand Advantages
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Proprietary Resources
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Fair Value Extraction
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Staying Power
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Proven Business Model
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Predictable Demand Drivers
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Reinvestment Options
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Scalability and Low Incremental Costs
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Cyclical Risks
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Other Risks
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Final Remarks
