ABSTRACT
Numbers are the tools of my trade. We investment professionals study companies and industries, but we have to prove to ourselves by studying data that the investment we contemplate is attractively priced. We require specific stats, metrics, comps, sequentials, and percentages to provide order and make sense of the market. Even if we know that the price is high, compared with what we might have paid the previous year, we must be able to quantify the reason for the increase.
