cover image The Warren Buffett Portfolio: Mastering the Power of the Focus Investment Strategy

The Warren Buffett Portfolio: Mastering the Power of the Focus Investment Strategy

Robert G. Hagstrom, Hagstrom. John Wiley & Sons, $24.95 (246pp) ISBN 978-0-471-24766-1

In a straightforward follow-up to his bestseller, The Warren Buffett Way, Hagstrom shows how to put Buffett's ideas into practice. Buffett, universally described as one of the world's greatest investors, has made a fortune with a number of extremely large bets on a relatively small number of companies. By doing so, Hagstrom, who runs a mutual fund for the Legg Mason investment house, correctly points out that Buffett flies in the face of orthodox notions of portfolio diversity. Buffett's approach, which Hagstrom calls ""focus investing,"" limits his investments to an extremely small number of stocks--10 or 15--that he thinks have the greatest long-term potential. In The Warren Buffett Way, Hagstrom identified how Buffett chooses those stocks. And here, in his straightforward followup, he shows the benefits of this approach: if you pick right, returns will be far greater than the market as a whole. The problem, of course, is that you have to pick winners. That, as Hagstrom notes, still takes hard work and discipline. (Apr.)