Free Cash Flow and Shareholder Yield: New Priorities for the Global Investor

I feel compelled to write the review given the haphazard nature of other reviews. The book succinctly outlines the concepts of free cash flow and shareholder yield.The discussion of economics if provided as reasoning as to why shareholder yield will be increasingly important in the current economic environment. As with all texts of this nature, the economic analysis is dated, but this does not detract from the central message of the book.If you are interested in the concept of shareholder yield, this is currently the most comprehensive treatment in book form, and I would thoroughly recommend it.If you are looking for a book that will teach you basic free cash flow analysis or will provide you with an economic roadmap for the future, look elsewhere, as this is not the intention of the book.

and, alas, investment advisers want to be listened to no matter how silly they prattle on...or, why you should never invite one to your cocktail party.At its core, the book has a valid and useful theme; free cash flow is the prime measure for judging a corporation's financial performance - not it price/earnings ratio. Priest stresses the point that the p/e ratio is a function of the accountants' (and management's) obscure and GAAP-driven analysis whereas free cash flow actually provides an investor an opportunity to intelligently assess the potential of a given enterprise for investment. Thus, inherent conflict can exist between the numbers that go into the "earnings" as manipulated by management and the numbers that are relevant to investors.Priest goes on outline the three useful functions - to the investor - of free cash flow; cash dividends, share buybacks and debt reduction. I would argue mildly that share buybacks have a pretty checkered history with a large number of such buybacks taking place at exactly the wrong time. Still, these first several chapters are useful in reminding an investor what to keep his/her focus on and why.The following section, on globalization, could be or could have been, 10 years ago, an interesting magazine article or op-ed piece in the WSJ. In this book it is dated before publication and spins off into Priest's theory that we now live in the "dollar zone" which starts to sound a lot like we should all hold hands and sing - you know what. Worse in the same section, as throughout later parts of the book, Priest loudly warns of soon-to-be-present rising interest rates. Right. I'll hustle right out and buy a 7% CD. The consequence is that Priest undermines the efficacy of the other parts of the book.To his credit, Priest correctly warns of the housing bubble as well as a liquidity bubble but seems to confuse the consequences and outcomes thereof. I do confess, however, that after grinding through the blather on globalization I started reading very quickly and indifferently - there seemed to be little new or of particular value.I'm left somewhat disappointed, therefore, that what could have been a useful text on free cash flow spins down into some aimless cocktail party chatter that doesn't last as long as the resulting hangover.

Excellent. Easy read. Information presented in style that is condusive to painless absorbtion of complex concepts.Recommend to those that are in investment mode.

the title of this book is actually a misnomer. this book is about economics and not about a book that will help analyze financial statements.for that look elsewhere. this books title is misleading and is not about analyzing cash flow.

This book lacks direction, and a point. I think they are trying to say dividend yield matters, and expanded into 150 pages of rambling. This book is not really help or interesting. Love how they guess the house/liquidity bubble, then completely miss the consequences. One of the main premises was that interest rate were going to go up, were is the 30 year?

Although I found the concepts very relevant, this book is very focused on the USA perspective. International markets such as Australia have a very different tax and investment perspective and these differences need to be considered. For example the USA and Europe suffered very badly from the Global Financial Crisis but Australia escaped largely unscathed due to more responsible financial governance from both the banks and the Government itself.I was hoping for a book on investment from a private investor or business owner point of view and this book was mainly about the investor in shares in public companies.Having said the above I found the book a very informative read and believe that the purchase of this book adds a valuable information source to my library.

Understood some basic concepts. Many discussions are more focused on one market and one time period.