Remember that the stock market is manic-depressive.

Does the business have a consistent operating history?

If the reason for doing something is that everyone else is doing it, it's not a good enough reason.

Asset-heavy businesses generally earn low rates of return - rates that often barely provide enough capital to fund the inflationary needs of the existing business, with nothing left over for real growth, for distribution to owners, or for acquisition of new businesses

In other words, the percentage change in book value in any given year is likely to be reasonably close to that year's change in intrinsic value.

When you combine ignorance and leverage, you get some pretty interesting results.

In the end we must have people to match our principles, not the reverse.