The 52-Week Low Formula: A Contrarian Strategy that Lowers Risk, Beats the Market, and Overcomes Human Emotion by Luke L. Wiley

The 52-Week Low Formula – Description

A new but timeless strategy and mindset that should greatly help investors lower downside risk while achieving market outperformance

In The 52-Week Low Formula: A Contrarian Strategy that Lowers Risk, Beats the Market, and Overcomes Human Emotion, wealth manager Luke L. Wiley, CFP examines the principles behind selecting the outstanding companies and great investment opportunities that are being overlooked.

Along the way, Wiley offers a melding of the strategies used by such investment giants as Warren Buffett, Howard Marks, Michael Porter, Seth Klarman, and Pat Dorsey. His proven formula helps investors get the upper hand by identifying solid companies that are poised for growth but have fallen out of the spotlight.

• Shows you how to investigate companies and identify opportunities
• Includes detailed discussions of competitive advantage, purchase value, return on invested capital, and debt levels
• Presents several case studies to examine companies that have overcome obstacles by trading around their 52-week lows

The 52-Week Low Formula is a must-read for investors and financial advisors who want to break through conventional strategies and avoid common mistakes.

The 52-Week Low Formula: A Contrarian Strategy that Lowers Risk, Beats the Market, and Overcomes Human Emotion by Luke L. Wiley

The 52-Week Low Formula – Reviews

From the Inside Flap

Successful investing is based on simple principles. Buy low, sell high. Make good decisions based upon good information. Try to eliminate noise and emotional confusion. Mitigate risk.

Yet, too often, investors fall into familiar traps that lead to suboptimal results. Herding, emotional investing, following the trends instead of the data, taking unnecessary risks— all of these have a common root cause: The lack of a disciplined system for determining investment opportunities.

In The 52-Week Low Formula: A Contrarian Strategy that Lowers Risk, Beats the Market, and Overcomes Human Emotion, Luke L. Wiley, CFP®, examines the formula filters behind selecting the outstanding companies and great investment opportunities that are being overlooked, resulting in bigger gains, reduced risk, and faster recovery following economic downturns.

Using his own experiences, deep research, and a healthy degree of skepticism as a guide, Wiley describes what he looks for in a company, what requirements must be met, and how those criteria came into existence. He also presents several case studies to examine companies that were trading around their 52-Week Lows, overcame obstacles, and provided solid investment returns. His book is based on the idea that five simple yet critical filters can lead to mitigating downside risk while achieving market outperformance.

The companies that positively make it through these filters, and that are found to be in the midst of a skid, are the ones that are ripe for investment yet continue to be overlooked and unloved by Main Street to Wall Street.

The 52-Week Low Formula is a must read for investors, money managers, and financial advisors who want to break through suboptimal conventional strategies and avoid common mistakes. It presents a new but timeless strategy and mindset that should greatly help investors lower risk while outperforming the market.

From the Back Cover

Praise for The 52-Week Low Formula

“In The 52-Week Low Formula, Luke Wiley makes it clear that if you hope to be a superior investor, your thinking has to be different from that of the crowd and better. He provides insight into how control over psychological influences can enable it to be different, as well as an example of the kind of disciplined, reason-based process that’s essential if it’s going to be better.” – Howard Marks, Chairman and Cofounder of Oaktree Capital Management; Author of The Most Important Thing: Uncommon Sense for the Thoughtful Investor

“The gathering and arraying of the data, the projection, and the judgment calls are the simple tools we train our research analysts to focus on.  Luke Wiley’s The 52-Week Low Formula highlights this approach to focus on price as an important element to stock selection.” – Mario J. Gabelli, CFA; CEO of GAMCO Investors, Inc.

“My only argument with The 52-Week Low Formula is that its title makes it seem overly simplistic. Rather than a rules-based formula, this book is a useful and substantial framework for understanding the key elements of long term investing. With refreshing clarity, Luke Wiley combines his own research with the core tenants of securities analysis to create a thorough yet readable guide that will serve new and experienced investors alike.” – Christopher C. Davis, Portfolio Manager and Chairman, Davis Advisors

“Luke Wiley’s The 52-Week Low Formula will make you a far wiser investor if you give it a few 52 minutes of your time to analyze this careful low risk investment philosophy.”
—Donald R. Keough, Retired President of The Coca-Cola Company and author of The Ten Commandments for Business Failure

“The foundation of successful investing is discipline, and Luke Wiley’s The 52-Week Low Formula offers one of the clearest and well-reasoned stock-investing disciplines you’ll find. Investors of all stripes will benefit from the wisdom in this book.”  – Haywood Kelly, CFA, Head of Global Research, Morningstar

“Buying great businesses at cheap prices is easy in theory, but hard in practice. Luke Wiley shows you how to put your emotions aside, ignore the crowd, and successfully follow this profitable investing path.” – Pat Dorsey, CFA, Founder of Dorsey Asset Management

“Luke Wiley’s The 52-Week Low Formula is a well thought out strategy that should appeal to any investor looking to beat the market while taking lower risk. How can you argue with a strategy that results in surfacing companies with low expectations, strong balance sheets, cash flow and competitive position?” – Paul D. Sonkin, portfolio manager, GAMCO Investors, Inc. (NYSE:GBL), and Co-author of Value Investing: From Graham to Buffett and Beyond

“Luke Wiley has finally answered the value investor’s age-old question: When to Buy. This businesslike and common sense approach are valuable tools to identify great companies at great prices. Wiley shows us a disciplined approach to buy low and sell high using a formula everyone can follow.” – Mary Buffett, New York Times best-selling author, Marybuffett.com

“Great book for those looking to improve both their investment process and odds of finding successful investments. Wiley uses vivid examples that bring the concepts to life. – Michael Shearn, Time Value of Money, LP, author of The Investment Checklist: The Art of In-Depth Research

“The 52-Week Low Formula should be required reading for all new investors or those looking for better returns. Luke Wiley has captured the essence of value investing in a readable format. This was written for the average investor that has been disappointed in following the ‘herd’. This is not a textbook on investing, but instead a disciplined formula for better, more consistent investing with five essential steps. This should be at the fingertips of all those Financial Advisors looking to improve their returns for their clients and differentiate themselves in a very crowded market.” – Rob Knapp, President, Supernova Consulting Group LLC; author of The Supernova Advisor