No, this is not a spinoff of Tim Ferriss’s The 4-Hour Workweek. There are in fact no shortcuts to great investing. Having said that, it is very important to be able to quickly decide what NOT to spend time on. At Cove Street, we use checklists and stick to a regimented Stage 2 process in order to not waste time on companies that we would never want to own for the long run. Specifically, before we move into the team tackle—Stage 3 of our investment process—we attempt to expediently “qualify” a company.  Is it a Buffett or a Graham? Is management a friend or a foe? At first glance, does the stock look like it trades at a discount to intrinsic value?

After almost 10 years at Cove Street, I have become pretty comfortable trusting my own instincts as it relates to what I should be devoting resources to. However, the question for me was the following: could I distill this qualification process down to something that was digestible and coherent for UCLA undergraduate students? It is my sense that all investors—but especially younger ones—can benefit from having a template for a streamlined process. It is helpful for job interviews where you are asked to turn around a stock in less than a week. It is also helpful when you are first starting your career and are trying to figure out how best to allocate your scarce time.

Accordingly, this past week I delivered a presentation to the Ben Graham program students within UCLA’s economics department on the subject of how to quickly get up to speed on a company. The head of the program, Bill Simon, was kind enough to allow for the presentation to be recorded so that we could share it here.

Also, for those of you who are interested in accessing the presentation slides, they are available here.

-Ben Claremon