Investing Between the Lines (PB) Paperback – June 20, 2023

This book gives us a new tool for evaluating a company's performance and financial prospects: analyzing the CEO's annual letter. It lets us dive into the numbers, the strategies, the execution, the culture and everything else to know about the company from a valuable new angle.The book does a thorough job of giving us questions to ask of a CEO's report. The analytical tools for answering those questions are informative and thoughtful, but less than rigorous - perhaps I should say "fortunately less than rigorous". There's room for individual judgment and disagreement about what something means. These tools work better for people with more experience and better instincts - just like other aspects of investing and life. Nonetheless we're all better off if we add them to our thinking.As the author points out, at stake here is the connection between transparency and ethics, the relationship between clear language and clear thought and the dangers of erosion of trust. If Rittenhouse' approach becomes a standard part of the investors' toolkit, it might force executives to disclose more honestly, think more clearly, and make better decisions. Bravo!

L.J. Rittenhouse drives home the point that the CEO's annual letter to shareholders provides important insights into the company's historical performance and future outlook. The book is chock full of examples - many of which are well known corporate failures - where the clues to future problems might have been ferreted out by a careful reading of the preceding annual letters. LJR offers a methodical approach for evaluation those annual letters (which is also the basis of her consulting and advisory business). Although some of her analysis leaves you wondering whether it has benefited substantially from hindsight, the book is well worth reading by those who are looking for the clues to future company (and stock price) performance.

Investing Between the Lines, written for CEOs, boards of directors, individuals investors, business students, and long-term professional investors, arrives at a most opportune time for its audience. A recent edition of USA Today observed that individual investors have become skeptical about the stock market and its unpredictability. The New York Times reports that ordinary investors feel the game is rigged and that they are the fools. Headlines about a "fiscal cliff," "PIIGS," the European debt crisis, and many other real or imagined financial catastrophes create wild gyrations in the market which spook honest investors. Recent history has given us endless waves of "dot-com bubbles," bank failures, Bernie Madoffs, and Enrons. We now learn that the number one qualification for being hired st some of the most prestigious investment firms was access to inside information. And, despite more regulation and apparent oversight, this greed and abject dishonesty continue, thus creating seemingly insurmountable pitfalls for all investors.Investing Between the Lines eloquently begins a discussion about transparency in corporate communications. In much of our discussion, transparency is non-existent. Obfuscation prevails in our political debate and is a way of life in many professions and for many CEOs. No doubt, it is difficult to know, let alone speak, "the whole truth and nothing but the truth." However, if we accept obfuscation for truth, we will lose ourselves as people.How can anyone ferret out the truth about individual companies in order to make prudent, knowledgeable investment decisions? Who can the individual investor trust and how can he or she distinguish between those CEOs who rely on fundamentals to steward their investments and those that manipulate numbers to create an artificially high price for their stock?In her timely and compelling new book Investing Between the Lines, Laura Rittenhouse tells us to trust ourselves and our own common sense. Rittenhouse also gives us the tools we need to do exactly that. When evaluating a company, Laura reminds us that earnings, revenues and price-earning ratios can be easily manipulated. Giving us a few simple rules to guide our thinking, Rittenhouse tell us to listen to what CEOs say and to hear their words critically. Are their shareholder letters and other corporate communications filled with FOG or facts?Investing Between the Lines reminds us that trust is the foundation for success and that candor is the language of leaders who choose to be trusted. In parsing the words of CEOs in their letters to shareholders from Enron to DuPont to General Electric and many others, Rittenhouse demonstrates vividly how these communications either form the basis for such trust or sow the seed of doubt. Laura notes that it is often the CEO who reminds us of his or her mistakes that is most likely to be truthful about other matters. The investor who reads a letter to shareholders using the approach taught by Rittenhouse will quickly know whether to invest or not invest in that company. Investing Between the Lines will enlighten anyone involved in the world of investing.By John Kukankos

A gentle but thorough guide to the complex and often deceptive world of the stock market. Laura Rittenhouse gives the reader an organized and reliable method to carefully interpret financial reports and make realistic judgements about the current and future success of publicly held companies without demanding an advanced command of mathmatics. This is not a dumbed down, easy lesson, slick pitch but a well grounded and evidence based program presented in a step by step path which shares lessons learned in many years in the investment business. This is done in an engaging and entertaining manner which teaches the newcomer and confirms the judgement of the seasoned investor. Well worth your money and, more importantly, your time.

I had high hopes for this book. It got a little too promotional for my taste.

My number one rule when it comes to investing is to avoid the proverbial snake oil salesman. I mean, would you invest your hard-earned money in a company that you knew could not be trusted? Of course not! Sadly, there are millions of investors who unwittingly do this every single day, hoping to get ahead in our "get rich quick" society.Merriam-Webster defines candor as "the quality of being open, sincere, and honest." "Investing Between the Lines" provides a powerful framework for decoding the level of candor in company communications and determining which companies that can be trusted. This is a must-read for anyone who wants to avoid investing in the next Enron. More importantly, this system will improve your ability to find the next Amazon. Rittenhouse shows you how to profit from the notion that words do matter -- and helps make you a better long-term investor in the process.

It is informational but not particularly enthralling and I felt like I was drinking from the proverbial fire hose. I barely made it halfway through the book.

Un libro davvero interessante , che ci fa valutare le aziende anche dalle lettere ai shareholder degli CEO. Ci sono dei "trucchetti" interessanti nella lettura di queste lettere sulle quali questo libro mi ha aperto gli occhi. Chi investe su lunghi periodi ed è a caccia di aziende sulle quali investire troverà degli spunti interessanti focalizzati sempre alle "lettere" mandate agli azionisti,. Per quanto mi riguarda è un libro che sicuramente aggiunge un tassello importante nella valutazione di un azienda negli anni (al cambiare degli CEO)

Good one time read. One must take notes on How to read annual reports. You must trust yourself that you can do better than any analyst.

Combining her insights in finance and communications Rittenhouse ranks CEOs' trustworthiness based on their letters to shareholders in Annual Reports. The book is a turn-pager with a clear message: What CEO tell shareholders deserves to be taken seriously by prospective and existing investors. Decoded they carry information crucial to the understanding of how the company is doing and where it is heading. Rittenhouse shows us how to use the tools. Well structured and extremely well written, the book shows that linguistic analyses coupled with examination of financial statements are a formidable tool, not only for investing purposes but also because of the more general insights into governance and leadership such exercises give.

The book is mean't to be brand new, but every page stinks of incense which i can't stand, i now have it outside trying to get rid of the smell