How well does it pay to own the Standard & Poor's 500 Index's best-performing stock of the year? Over the 2012-2021 period, the one-year total return ranged from 80% to 743%. This book identifies the quantitative and qualitative traits of stocks that made it to #1 and tells the stories of how they got there. A key indicator, the Fridson-Lee Statistic, makes its debut in these pages. Aiming for the massive upside of the #1 stocks entails substantial risk. It's not something to do with more than a small percentage of your portfolio. But attempting to pick the coming year's top performer can provide an outlet for speculative impulses that might otherwise spoil a prudent, long-term investment plan. And by investigating the statistically determined best candidates for #1, you'll gain important insights into stock selection. The Little Book of Picking Top Stocks explains why conventional equity research provides only limited help in zeroing in on the index's future top performer. Spotting the #1 stock isn't Wall Street analysts' focus, although the information they furnish about companies' competitive strategies is quite helpful. Problematically, investment banks' fundamental stock reports are structured around a valuation metric that was discredited nearly half a century ago--earnings per share. Author Martin Fridson's previous writings on the stock market include the books It Was a Very Good Year and Investment Illusions, as well as articles such as "Ben Graham's Value Approach: Can It Still Work?" He has received the CFA Society of New York's Ben Graham Award and has been named the Financial Management Association International's Financial Executive of the Year. The Green Magazine called his Financial Statement Analysis (co-authored with Fernando Alvarez) "one of the most useful investment books ever."

The helpful workbook to help practice assessing financial statements Financial statement analysis is essential as part of any well-organized financial portfolio. As a companion piece, Financial Statement Analysis Workbook: A Practitioner's Guide allows readers the opportunity to test and hone the skills put forward in Martin Fridson and Fernando Alvarez's Financial Statement Analysis, a resource devoted to providing the analytical framework necessary to make sense of the sometimes misleading numbers put forth by companies. Scrutinizing financial statements allows one to, for example, evaluate a company's stock price or determine merger or acquisition valuations. The Financial Statement Analysis Workbook, then, provides a pathway to become familiar with these methodologies in order to be prepared to use them in real-world scenarios. With the skills provided within, you can begin to undertake goal-oriented preparation for the practical challenges of contemporary business, and feel confident in your financial decision-making. This is aided by: Question-and-answer sections within this Workbook correspond to each chapter of Financial Statement Analysis Financial statement and computational exercises designed to require analysis and synthesis of concepts covered in the core text A full list of answers in the second half of the book that help explain pitfalls within the questions An essential tool for professional analysts, investors, and students, Financial Statement Analysis Workbook offers the perfect opportunity to help turn theory into reality.

This book appears at an opportune time in the history of evaluation. Its detailed and up-to-date account of the organization and use of evaluation in eight Western, democratic countries-Canada, Germany, United Kingdom, United States, Denmark, Holland, Norway, and Switzerland-shows how evaluation functions at different levels of development. Focusing on the national or federal level of government, this volume presents a systematic and comparative view of eight nations at different stages of the development, institutionalization, and utilization of evaluations. All of these original contributions have been written by academics and government officials involved in the production and use of evaluation findings. Each shows how their respective country has moved to institutionalize evaluation at the federal level, and each explores the reasons for that institutionalization. Among them are managerial accountability, the increased complexity of the decisions facing policymakers, federally sponsored social change that needs to be tracked and assessed, and the increasing recognition that political power comes to those who possess such information. Program Evaluation and the Management of Government is tightly integrated. The contributions share coherence, a common analytic framework and use of key terms, resulting from the authors' three-year dialogue as members of the Working Group on Policy and Program Evaluation sponsored by the International Institute for Administrative Sciences located in Belgium. Their shared commitment to working together has given us the first systematic effort to assess evaluation across such a large number of countries. It will be of interest to applied social scientists and policymakers, especially those interested in comparative research.

"Medical Professionals and the Organization of Knowledge" conveys how medical people shape and organize the knowledge, perception, and experience of illness, as well as the substance of illness behavior, its management, and treatment. It is now well established that the unique symbolic equipment of the human animal is intimately connected with the functioning of the body. Freidson and Lorber believe that the proper understanding of specifically human rather than generally "animal" illness requires careful and systematic study of the social meanings surrounding illness.

The content of social meanings varies from culture to culture and from one historical period to another. As important as the content of those social meanings, is the organization of groups who serve as carriers and, sometimes, creators. In the case of illness, a critical difference exists between those considered to be competent to diagnose and treat the sick and those excluded from this special privilege--a separation as old as the shaman or medicine-man. Such differences become solidified when the expert healer becomes a member of an organized, full-time occupation, sustained in monopoly over the work of diagnosis and treatment by the force of the state and invested with the authority to make official designation of the social meanings to be ascribed to physical states.

The medical profession in advanced nations is in a vise between professional needs and political demands. Its organization and its knowledge establish many of the conditions for being recognizably and legitimately ill, and the professional controls for many of the circumstances of treatment. It thus plays a central role in shaping the experience of being ill. With this fact of modern life in mind, this collection on the character of experts or professionals in general and of medicine as a profession in particular is uniquely fashioned.

Eliot Freidson was professor emeritus of sociology in the Graduate School of Arts and Science of New York University. He served on scientific advisory boards for the Social Security Administration, the National Institutes of Health, and the National Center for Health Services Research.

"Judith Lorber" is a professor emerita of sociology at Brooklyn College and the City College of New York Graduate Center. She is author of "Gender Inequality: Feminist Theories and Politics, Breaking the Bowls: Degendering and Feminist Change," and "Gender and the Social Construction of Illness."

Praise for HOW TO BE A BILLIONAIRE

"A truly enlightening work filled with fundamental strategies that have worked for others. Martin Fridson documents the essential principles inherent in every billionaire’s success."–Gordon Bethune, Chairman of the Board and CEO, Continental Airlines

"Martin Fridson has created the ultimate road map to the American Dream. He comes as close to extracting a formula for the acquisition of wealth as any book I have ever read."–Jeff Sagansky, CEO, Paxson Communications

"Martin Fridson’s book has a number of very insightful and thoughtful analyses, something you don’t pick up in many business schools." –Philip F. Anschutz, Chairman and CEO, The Anschutz Corporation

How to Be a Billionaire is the first comprehensive picture of the real strategies and tactics that built the great business fortunes of modern times. Packed with engaging accounts of titans like Ross Perot, Richard Branson, and Phil Anschutz, it will show you principles that can increase your wealth and business acumen to the mogul level.

Martin Fridson looks at the careers, the methods, and the minds of self-made billionaires to distill the common keys to titanic accumulations of wealth. He identifies the methods, beliefs, and behaviors every businessperson must understand and emulate to reach the pinnacle of riches. How to Be a Billionaire is a manual for success that every aspiring tycoon will benefit from.

The updated, real-world guide to interpreting and unpacking GAAP and non-GAAP financial statements In Financial Statement Analysis, 5th Edition, leading investment authority Martin Fridson returns with Fernando Alvarez to provide the analytical framework you need to scrutinize financial statements, whether you're evaluating a company's stock price or determining valuations for a merger or acquisition. Rather than taking financial statements at face value, you'll learn practical and straightforward analytical techniques for uncovering the reality behind the numbers. This fully revised and up-to-date 5th Edition offers fresh information that will help you to evaluate financial statements in today's volatile markets and uncertain economy. The declining connection between GAAP earnings and stock prices has introduced a need to discriminate between instructive and misleading non-GAAP alternatives. This book integrates the alternatives and provides guidance on understanding the extent to which non-GAAP reports, particularly from US companies, may be biased. Understanding financial statements is an essential skill for business professionals and investors. Most books on the subject proceed from the questionable premise that companies' objective is to present a true picture of their financial condition. A safer assumption is that they seek to minimize the cost of raising capital by portraying themselves in the most favorable light possible. Financial Statement Analysis teaches readers the tricks that companies use to mislead, so readers can more clearly interpret statements. Learn how to read and understand financial statements prepared according to GAAP and non-GAAP standards Compare CFROI, EVA, Valens, and other non-GAAP methodologies to determine how accurate companies' reports are Improve your business decision making, stock valuations, or merger and acquisition strategy Develop the essential skill of quickly and accurately gathering and assessing information from financial statements of all types Professional analysts, investors, and students will gain valuable knowledge from this updated edition of the popular guide. Filled with real-life examples and expert advice, Financial Statement Analysis, 5th Edition, will help you interpret and unpack financial statements.

What, if anything, do the most spectacular, high-performance periods of the twentieth-century stock market have in common? And most importantly: Can we predict when they will occur again?
In this fascinating investigation, acclaimed author and financial authority Martin S. Fridson probes the past, leading an exhilarating tour through each of the twentieth-century stock market's golden years. Illuminating, entertaining, and rich in historical anecdotes, Fridson's book treats us to the opinions and investment strategies of some of the most prominent and intriguing figures on the scene.
"Timely, informative, and highly readable . . . It Was a Very Good Year offers wonderful insights into the years that provided spectacular gains in the past. There are important lessons in this book for all investors."-Henry Kaufman, President, Henry Kaufman & Company, Inc.
"A useful and extremely entertaining book. It's loaded with fascinating stock market lore and helpful investment approaches. I learned a lot and thoroughly enjoyed myself along the way."-Byron R. Wien, Managing Director, Investment Strategist for U.S. Equities, Morgan Stanley Dean Witter
"Financial history with a purpose-it is a Very Good Book."-James Grant, Editor, Grant's Interest Rate Observer
"With this book, Marty Fridson joins the ranks of the must-read economic and financial historians. He is that rare combination of scholar, wit, raconteur, and man with an eye on the bottom line. Read it for amusement, education, or profit. You can't lose."-Ben Stein, writer, law professor at Pepperdine University and host of Win Ben Stein's Money

Self-made billionaires all have one thing in common: they excel at making money. But hard work, thrift, and focus are only part of the story-you hold the rest of it in your hands. How to Be a Billionaire is the first comprehensive picture of the real strategies and tactics that built the great business fortunes of modern times. Packed with engaging accounts of titans like Ross Perot, Richard Branson, Phil Anschutz, John D. Rockefeller, Wayne Huizenga, Bill Gates, J. Paul Getty, and Kirk Kerkorian, How to Be a Billionaire will show you principles that can increase your wealth and business acumen to the mogul level.

How to Be a Billionaire looks at the careers, the methods, and the minds of self-made billionaires to distill the common keys to titanic accumulations of wealth. Each chapter explores a specific strategy and brings it to life through extended profiles of past and present masters of the art of making money.

Do you think innovation is the best way to prosper in business? Sam Walton, founder of the Wal-Mart retail chain, would tell you otherwise. The key to Walton's success was supreme devotion to copying the methods of other successful discounters.

What could be less complicated than buying low and selling high? But the ascent of

Warren Buffett, John Kluge, and Laurence Tisch to billionaire status depended on much more than an eye for good bargains. And if you're looking to thrive by outmanaging the competition, look no further than Richard Branson. When the founder of Virgin Atlantic needed to reduce his staff by 400 people, 600 volunteered to take off a few months on sabbatical.

How to Be a Billionaire identifies the methods, beliefs, and behaviors every businessperson must understand and emulate to reach the pinnacle of riches. A manual for success that can benefit every aspiring tycoon, it is a fascinating read for anyone intrigued by wealth and how it's gotten.

Praise for HOW TO BE A BILLIONAIRE

"How to Be a Billionaire offers fascinating insight into the subject of building wealth. As a result of his exhaustive research, Martin Fridson is able to explain the wealth-creation process from a unique perspective. As the reader will discover, there is no single formula for success, but there are certain categories into which these concepts can be placed. My personal advice is to remember the words of Winston Churchill who said, 'Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm.'"

-Ross Perot

"Martin Fridson has created the ultimate roadmap to the American Dream. He comes as close to extracting a formula for the acquisition of wealth as any book I have ever read."

-Jeff Sagansky
CEO, Paxson Communications

"Martin Fridson's book has a number of very insightful and thoughtful analyses, something you don't pick up in many business schools."

-Philip F. Anschutz
Chairman and CEO, The Anschutz Corporation

"How to Be a Billionaire is a powerful arsenal of dead-on strategies for increasing your personal wealth and business acumen. Marty Fridson details the tactics of self-made billionaires with great intelligence and insight. I wish this book had been available when I was starting my career."

-Spencer Hays
Founder, Tom James Company
Executive Chairman, Southwestern/Great American, Inc.
Chairman, Athlon Publications

"The market never ceases to befuddle and beguile. These two venerable works are fixtures on the short lists for most valuable books on the securities markets, and investors continue to cherish them." —From the Introduction by Martin S. Fridson Managing Director, Merrill Lynch & Co. Author of Investment Illusions

Exploring the sometimes hilarious, sometimes devastating impact of crowd behavior and trading trickery on the financial markets, this book brilliantly combines two all-time investment classics. Extraordinary Popular Delusions and Confusión de Confusiones take us from Tulipmania in 1634—when tulips actually traded at a higher price than gold—to the South Sea "bubble" of 1720, and beyond. Securities analyst and author Martin Fridson guides you on a quirky, entertaining, and intriguing journey back through time.

Chosen by the Financial Times as Two of the Ten Best Books Ever Written on Investment

Critical Praise . . .

"This is the most important book ever written about crowd psychology and, by extension, about financial markets. A serious student of the markets and even anyone interested in the extremes of human behavior should read this book!" —Ron Insana, CNBC

"In combining 'Extraordinary' with 'Confusion,' the result is not extraordinary confusion. Instead, with clarity, the book sears into modern investor minds the dangers of following the crowd." —Greg Heberlein, The Seattle Times

"You will see between its staid lines (written in ye olde English and as ponderable as Buddha's navel) that, despite what the media says, nothing really important has changed in the financial markets in centuries." —Kenneth L. Fisher, Forbes

Priceless investment wisdom from two timeless classics

Can you imagine tulips trading at a higher price than gold? That's just what happened in 1634 as Tulipmania swept across Holland. Nearly a century later, stock prices in England soared as a bold proposal to pay off the national debt caused a fleet of bubble companies to form in its wake. But what happened when the bubbles burst? Did these famous incidents simply demonstrate the potential for market volatility, or did they reflect outbreaks of mass hysteria? Charles Mackay brought his own unique perspective to this, and a number of other remarkable episodes, when the legendary Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds first appeared in 1841.

The Dutch East India Company was the hot stock to watch in the early days of the Amsterdam stock exchange. But the price action became hard to unravel once speculation and treacherous deceit came into play. Market manipulation, it seems, was a factor even at the dawn of modern exchange trading. Joseph de la Vega's 1688 Confusión de Confusiones offered a firsthand account of seventeenth-century market complexities that rings remarkably true even today.

Exploring the sometimes humorous, sometimes devastating impact of crowd behavior and trading trickery on the financial markets, this book brilliantly combines two all-time investment classics. Financial analyst and author Martin S. Fridson is your guide, and the result is an insightful new volume that is a quirky, entertaining, and thoroughly intriguing journey back through time.

From the investment strategies of Bernard Baruch, to Japanese land prices, junk bonds, and the collapse of Baring Securities, the far-reaching influence of Mackay's and de la Vega's revered works remains potent and truly timeless. By juxtaposing Extraordinary Popular Delusions and Confusión de Confusiones, this unique book points up the interesting contrast in their respective conclusions. Mackay believed that "periodic outbreaks of mass hysteria" led to volatile market activity, while de la Vega saw "cunning behind the market's convulsions." Both interpretations are worth examining for their fascinating commentaries on market movement and investment psychology. Viewed from within the context of events of our own time, these classics are must reading for all those seeking a greater understanding of the stock exchange's frequently erratic behavior.

"The market never ceases to befuddle and beguile. These two venerable works are fixtures on the short lists for most valuable books on the securities markets, and investors continue to cherish them." —From the Introduction by Martin S. Fridson Managing Director, Merrill Lynch & Co. Author of Investment Illusions

Exploring the sometimes hilarious, sometimes devastating impact of crowd behavior and trading trickery on the financial markets, this book brilliantly combines two all-time investment classics. Extraordinary Popular Delusions and Confusión de Confusiones take us from Tulipmania in 1634—when tulips actually traded at a higher price than gold—to the South Sea "bubble" of 1720, and beyond. Securities analyst and author Martin Fridson guides you on a quirky, entertaining, and intriguing journey back through time.

Chosen by the Financial Times as Two of the Ten Best Books Ever Written on Investment

Critical Praise . . .

"This is the most important book ever written about crowd psychology and, by extension, about financial markets. A serious student of the markets and even anyone interested in the extremes of human behavior should read this book!" —Ron Insana, CNBC

"In combining 'Extraordinary' with 'Confusion,' the result is not extraordinary confusion. Instead, with clarity, the book sears into modern investor minds the dangers of following the crowd." —Greg Heberlein, The Seattle Times

"Once upon a time, there was an emperor with no clothes. For the longest time no one noticed. As you will read in this marvelous book, there have been many naked emperors since. There will doubtless be many more." —Andrew Tobias, Author of Managing Your Money

"You will see between its staid lines (written in ye olde English and as ponderable as Buddha's navel) that, despite what the media says, nothing really important has changed in the financial markets in centuries." —Kenneth L. Fisher, Forbes

"This is an immensely useful book for sociologists working in a wide range of sub-fields. It confirms Freidson's status among the leading exponents of the old Chicago tradition. This book is catholic in its reading, sophisticated in its arguments and cautious in its judgements."--Robert Dingwall, "Sociology"
"As an attempt to provide a complex, wide-ranging account this book should be essential reading for specialist students, and it should act as a stimulus for the extension of both empirical research and theory."--Alex Faulkner, "Sociological Review"
"Freidson's book is a concise introduction to the professions, challenging specialists with its puncturing of theoretically induced misconceptions and offering general readers a clear but critical entree to the theoretical literature concerning this central aspect of modern society."--Andrew Abbott, "Science"
"This is a stimulating and well-written book which opens up a new perspective on the professions as well as contributing to existing debates."--David Podmore, "Times Higher Education Supplement"

Todos en algun momento de nuestras vidas hemos experimentado la gloria de Dios. Pero hay un problema comun a la mayoria de los creyentes: la imposibilidad de mantener en el tiempo esa experiencia. La gloria es la manifestacion de la presencia de Dios y Claudio Freidzon nos ensena a encontrarnos con esa presencia de manera practica y diaria.

What, if anything, do the most spectacular, high-performance periods of the twentieth-century stock market have in common? And most importantly: Can we predict when they will occur again?
In this fascinating investigation, acclaimed author and financial authority Martin S. Fridson probes the past, leading an exhilarating tour through each of the twentieth-century stock market's golden years. Illuminating, entertaining, and rich in historical anecdotes, Fridson's book treats us to the opinions and investment strategies of some of the most prominent and intriguing figures on the scene.
"Timely, informative, and highly readable . . . It Was a Very Good Year offers wonderful insights into the years that provided spectacular gains in the past. There are important lessons in this book for all investors."-Henry Kaufman, President, Henry Kaufman & Company, Inc.
"A useful and extremely entertaining book. It's loaded with fascinating stock market lore and helpful investment approaches. I learned a lot and thoroughly enjoyed myself along the way."-Byron R. Wien, Managing Director, Investment Strategist for U.S. Equities, Morgan Stanley Dean Witter
"Financial history with a purpose-it is a Very Good Book."-James Grant, Editor, Grant's Interest Rate Observer
"With this book, Marty Fridson joins the ranks of the must-read economic and financial historians. He is that rare combination of scholar, wit, raconteur, and man with an eye on the bottom line. Read it for amusement, education, or profit. You can't lose."-Ben Stein, writer, law professor at Pepperdine University and host of Win Ben Stein's Money

Whether you’re evaluating a company’s stock price, assessing its credit quality, or determining valuations for a merger or acquisition, deciphering the messages embedded within a company’s financial statements is critical–especially after the recent demise of so-called "solid" companies. This workbook will help you do this and much more, by allowing you to hone your skills and test the knowledge you’ve gained from reading Financial Statement Analysis, Third Edition.

Question-and-answer sections within this workbook correspond to each chapter of Financial Statement Analysis, Third Edition, so you can use this guide in conjunction with the actual text. Alternatively, you can use the self-administered tests that are also a part of this workbook to independently practice the skill of reading and understanding financial statements. Either way, using the Financial Statement Analysis Workbook will help you expand your skills in reading and analyzing financial statements–so you can successfully put your hard-won knowledge to work in the real world.

En este extraordinario libro, Claudio Freidzon desafia a todo cristiano a buscar una profunda y poderosa relacion con el Espiritu Santo. ?Como? El autor no nos deja sedientos y, trasladandonos a sus propias experiencias, nos senala con sinceridad las etapas que debemos transitar.

Eliot Freidson has written a systematic account of professionalism as a method of organizing work. In ideal-typical professionalism, specialized workers control their own work, unlike the free market, where consumers are in command, and bureaucracy, where managers dominate. He shows how each method has its own logic, encouraging different kinds of knowledge, jobs, work careers, educational institutions and ideologies. Then he discusses the way historic and national variations in state policy and professional organization, as well as the demands of different kinds of work, influence the strength of professionalism. In appraising the embattled status of professionalism today, Freidson discusses the ideologically inspired charges of monopoly, credentialism and elitism made by both economists and populists. He concludes that professional institutions are too useful to capital and the state to be seriously weakened by such charges. What they do weaken is the ethical independence of professions, their ability to resist use of their specialized knowledge for maximizing profit and efficiency and to insist on providing its benefits to all in need.

A traves de las paginas de este libro, el pastor Claudio Freidzon invita a visitar el taller de Dios y ser parte de esa obra transformadora que ocurre cuando el alfarero rompe el vaso y lo hace de nuevo. Aunque la experiencia resulte dolorosa, el lector compredera que para tener un crecimiento espiritual es necesario hacer una cita en el taller de Dios.

The MznLnx Exam Prep series is designed to help you pass your exams. Editors at MznLnx review your textbooks and then prepare these practice exams to help you master the textbook material. Unlike study guides, workbooks, and practice tests provided by the texbook publisher and textbook authors, MznLnx gives you all of the material in each chapter in exam form, not just samples, so you can be sure to nail your exam.

Present-day health care policies in the United States are moving toward a system in which patients will be treated like industrial objects by doctors forced to work mechanically, says the distinguished medical sociologist Eliot Freidson in Medical Work in America. He offers a number of controversial proposals designed both to reduce costs and to avoid such dehumanization. In a series of essays that includes some of his classic work as well as significant new material, Freidson discusses the doctor-patient relationship, relations between physicians in various forms of medical practice, and the forces now reorganizing medical work. He shows how increasingly restrictive health insurance contracts insert a new, problematic element into both doctor-patient and colleague relations, and how bureaucratic methods of controlling medical decisions affect those relations. Finally, Freidson advances some basic principles to guide health care policy. He emphasizes that the physician's freedom to exercise discretion is essential if patients are to be treated as individuals rather than as administratively defined diagnostic categories. His recommendations include eliminating fee-for-service compensation, controlling health industry profits, and limiting the external administrative regulation of medical decisions while organizing medical work in such a way as to maximize effective and responsible self-governance.

In this book, Eliot Freidson explores several broad questions about professionalism in Western industrial societies today; how to theorize about it, what its future is likely to be, and its value to public policy. In analysing these problems, Freidson develops an original and compelling interpretation of the professions and the role of the professional. Professionalism is understood to be based on the occupational control of work. As such, he shows, it is quite distinct from either bureaucratic or market-based forms of structuring work.

Freidson also discusses various predictions about the future of the professions, pointing out that virtually all of them have mistaken practitioners for the profession as a whole and ignored members who generate new knowledge, set and implement policy, and communicate with the public through the media. He predicts a reorganization of the professions in which practitioners lose some of their independence and become accountable to standards established and administered by a professional elite.

In contemplating the political, economic, and ideological forces that exert enormous pressure on the professions today, Freidson departs from most writers by defending professionalism as a desirable method of providing complex, discretionary services to the public. He holds that market-based or bureaucratic methods would impoverish the quality of service to consumers and suggests how the virtues of professionalism can be reinforced. This book will appeal to the growing international body of historians, political scientists, sociologists, and policy analysts who are concerned with studying and theorizing about the professions.