These articles form an ordered body of reference material that users can draw on to understand the approach being used by Pier Analysis.
Founding documents
The mission of Pier Analysis
Influences
Project finance
Warren Buffet
Basic concepts
$100 bills don’t lie on the pavement for long
Direct presentation
Rewarding risk
There’s a difference between investment and speculation
What’s distinctive in the approach
Our method is standard in project finance, but not in corporate finance
We are not convinced markets are efficient
We ground our opinions in some simple maths
We look at cash flows rather than profit
We insist on a direct presentation of cash flows
We do not believe that companies are immortal
We say what rate of return we look for
We use actual rather than notional tax charges
We look for a margin of safety
We work backwards
Most of our projections are implausible
We do not use multiples
Basic spreadsheet skills
These are the basic skills that you need to navigate around the Pier Analysis Model
Workbooks are made up of worksheets
Moving around
Recalculating
The model
Spreadsheet techniques
Some of the Excel techniques used in The Pier Analysis model are mildly advanced
Number formatting
Styles
Annuities
Binary chop