Dead Companies Walking: How A Hedge Fund Manager Finds Opportunity in Unexpected Places

by Scott Fearon, Jesse Powell

Overview

Traditional Chinese edition of Dead Companies Walking: how a hedge fund manager finds opportunity in unexpected places

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250893161
Publisher:	St. Martin's Publishing Group
Publication date:	01/06/2015
Pages:	256
Sales rank:	585,394
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.57(d)

About the Author

Scott Fearon worked as a stock analyst and mutual fund manager before launching his own hedge fund, Crown Capital Management, in 1991. Since its inception, the fund has averaged an 11.4 percent annual return after all fees—50 percent greater than the benchmark S&P 500 index’s total return over the same time period, and well above the hedge fund industry average. He has written for Seeking Alpha and lives in Marin County, California.

Jesse Powell is the coauthor, with Scott Fearon, of the investing book Dead Companies Walking. As an editor, consultant, and ghostwriter, Powell has collaborated on prestigious, award-winning, bestselling, and critically acclaimed books. He lives in San Francisco.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Introduction
Forged in Failure

Chapter One
Historical Myopia

Chapter Two
The Fallacy of Formulas

Chapter Three
A Minor Oversight: Your Customers

Chapter Four
Madness and Manias

Chapter Five
Deckchairs on a Sinking Ship

Chapter Six
The Buck Stops ... There

Chapter Seven
Short-to-Long: Rescuing Failing Companies

Chapter Eight
Losing Money Without Even Trying: Welcome to Wall Street

Conclusion
Learning to Love Failure All Over Again

Acknowledgements
Endnotes

Editorial Reviews

10/06/2014
Hedge fund manager Fearon shares his take on why companies fail in this surprisingly entertaining mix of business guide and memoir. Fearon, now exceptionally successful, isn’t shy about revealing some of his financial missteps, the earliest being in the summer following his graduation from Northwestern University, when he started a job in Houston just as the oil industry crashed. But, as he insists, his mistakes—and his observation of others’—have helped him recognize key warning signs of a company about to tank. Fearon also identifies such common errors as viewing the “recent past” as “history,” “confusing formulas with good decision making,” and “confusing your own tastes for the tastes of your customer.” His entertaining tales of the business world include notable failures with inline skating investments, NordicTrack, and Blockbuster, paired with success stories like Zale Corporation and International Gaming Technology. And he isn’t afraid to dish about the many nefarious people and companies he’s encountered during his career in the financial industry. The final takeaway of this spirited book is that “learning to love failure all over again” can help America recover the adventurous spirit that Fearon believes our economy needs. (Jan.)

Publishers Weekly

If you want to read a sharp, insightful, bitingly funny, crystal-clear, quick-read book that could help you avoid making fatal mistakes with your business, pick up Dead Companies Walking.” —CFO Magazine

“An excellent investing book” —Barbarian Capital

“Sharp insights into human fallibility as a potential source of moneymaking opportunity.” —Kirkus Reviews

“[A] surprisingly entertaining mix of business guide and memoir. The final takeaway of this spirited book is that “learning to love failure all over again” can help America recover the adventurous spirit that Fearon believes our economy needs.” —Publishers Weekly

“Scott Fearon’s Dead Companies Walking is chock full of wisdom—not just about investing but about the way to read between the lines about just about anything in life. Fearon’s book reads like a rollicking adventure—it’s vivid, entertaining and informative—and it offers enduring lessons about Wall Street and beyond.” —Professor Alec Klein, bestselling author of Stealing Time: Steve Case, Jerry Levin, and the Collapse of AOL Time Warner

“Beginning with his drive from Illinois to Texas, Mr. Fearon weaves a fascinating odyssey captaining his hedge fund. Funny. True. Plain English. Anyone who has ever bought a stock or managed a business, big or small, will devour this book.” —J. Carlo Cannell, managing partner, Cannell Capital LLC

“[Scott Fearon's] insights on the common ways that mature companies often doom themselves apply equally well to startups. Every business, young or old, needs to avoid the ... mistakes that he outlines.” —Martin Zwilling, Forbes

“If you run a business, read this book. It contains great management lessons and why we should all embrace failure. If you manage your own money, read this book. Picking winners is a loser’s game and Scott spells out why short selling—and understanding why most companies fail—can help protect your portfolio.” —Lee Munson, President and CIO, Portfolio Wealth Advisors and author of Rigged Money: Beating Wall Street at Its Own Game

From the Publisher

2014-10-23
Hedge fund owner/manager Fearon contrasts the methods of Wall Street experts and gurus, and the self-deception and illusions of many business managers, with his own ability to profit from such vulnerabilities.The author has ridden the roller coaster of finance and investment since the collapse of the Texas oil patch in the 1980s. Along the way, he became a successful investor by shorting the stock of companies destined to fail, and he founded his own hedge fund in 1991 and continues to run it. Fearon passed through a succession of investing styles as he worked to understand how self-delusions, obsessions and manias obstruct business success. Insights assimilated from his own failures—like the gumbo restaurant he located amid a non-Southern, spicy food-eating demographic, among others—were fuel for his subsequent successes. Number-crunching analysis, writes the author, doesn't function on its own, and he includes stories and incidents derived from thousands of interviews conducted with the leaders of companies to illustrate the methods that have worked for him. The author uses Ron Johnson, who was put in charge of J.C. Penney, as an example. He lost $1 billion eliminating popular coupon programs, replacing discount products with upscale goods and dropping the use of Spanish in states like Texas. Johnson wanted to build a company where he and his friends could shop, but J.C. Penney's customer base refused to go along. During his research, site visits and interviews helped Fearon probe beneath the rationalizations for failure. When managers blame external factors and refuse to consider the possibility of internal problems, it's another sure sign of trouble. Thus, when earnings are falling or nonexistent and liabilities are increasing, bankruptcy is at hand. The author also discusses successful investments, like International Game Technology which can make more money more quickly than the best shorts. Sharp insights into human fallibility as a potential source of moneymaking opportunity.

Kirkus Reviews