Thesis (M.B.A.)--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2005.

Everyday the financial world is dominated by news from the international stock markets. A general market meltdown is viewed with alarm and dismay by all those investors who take a short-term view of investments or see their pensions erode. Nothing can be done to what has already happened, but a lot can be learnt from successful investors. One of these successful investors who are one of the richest people in the world is Warren Buffett. As a student of Benjamin Graham at Columbia Business School in the 1950's and a native of Omaha, Warren Buffett is renowned as the chairman of Berkshire Hathaway Incorporated and are one of the world's legendary investors. This dissertation addressed the need that exists to provide investors with an investment philosophy that will limit the risk of failure when investing in the stock market by identifying and evaluating investment potential the Warren Buffett way. The was done by a literature study of the various investment fundamentals, analyzing the investment philosophy of Warren Buffett's mentor, Benjamin Graham and a in-depth study of the investment criteria used by Warren Buffett. The empirical study was conducted in five phases. The first phase consisted of identifying the study sample and the second phase was to identify the most important regression equations. Phase three consisted of multiple regression analysis that was used to determine the most important quantitative criteria, based on the analysis done on twenty two companies listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. The most important criteria that were identified were the margin of safety, the book value and book value per share, the intrinsic value per share of the company, the debt pay-off period and the profit margin. Based on the criteria identified within phase three, a five step model was developed in phase four to assist investors in analyzing and successfully identifying companies with the highest investment potential and this model was tested in phase five. The results of the tests done on the study sample indicated the success rate of the model for the specific number of criteria. These results were compared to the average price per share for 2004 and the results indicated that the success rate of the model decreases as the number of criteria within the model decreases. The results achieved were satisfactory considering that the model only addresses the quantitative investment criteria and not the qualitative criteria within the model decreases. The results achieved were satisfactory considering that the model only addresses the quantitative investment criteria and not the qualitative criteria. / Thesis (M.B.A.)--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2005.

Everyday the financial world is dominated by news from the international stock markets. A general market meltdown is viewed with alarm and dismay by all those investors who take a short-term view of investments or see their pensions erode. Nothing can be done to what has already happened, but a lot can be learnt from successful investors. One of these successful investors who are one of the richest people in the world is Warren Buffett. As a student of Benjamin Graham at Columbia Business School in the 1950's and a native of Omaha, Warren Buffett is renowned as the chairman of Berkshire Hathaway Incorporated and are one of the world's legendary investors. This dissertation addressed the need that exists to provide investors with an investment philosophy that will limit the risk of failure when investing in the stock market by identifying and evaluating investment potential the Warren Buffett way. The was done by a literature study of the various investment fundamentals, analyzing the investment philosophy of Warren Buffett's mentor, Benjamin Graham and a in-depth study of the investment criteria used by Warren Buffett. The empirical study was conducted in five phases. The first phase consisted of identifying the study sample and the second phase was to identify the most important regression equations. Phase three consisted of multiple regression analysis that was used to determine the most important quantitative criteria, based on the analysis done on twenty two companies listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. The most important criteria that were identified were the margin of safety, the book value and book value per share, the intrinsic value per share of the company, the debt pay-off period and the profit margin. Based on the criteria identified within phase three, a five step model was developed in phase four to assist investors in analyzing and successfully identifying companies with the highest investment potential and this model was tested in phase five. The results of the tests done on the study sample indicated the success rate of the model for the specific number of criteria. These results were compared to the average price per share for 2004 and the results indicated that the success rate of the model decreases as the number of criteria within the model decreases. The results achieved were satisfactory considering that the model only addresses the quantitative investment criteria and not the qualitative criteria within the model decreases. The results achieved were satisfactory considering that the model only addresses the quantitative investment criteria and not the qualitative criteria. / Thesis (M.B.A.)--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2005.

The phenomenon of acquisitions has attracted research interest in the finance literature partly because of its impact on the u.s economy during the decade of the eighties. Whereas an impressive body of knowledge has been accumulated on this subject thus far, the hospitality literature has no empirical studies that seek to explain the nature of this phenomenon in the hospitality industry. Of particular interest in this study was the impact of acquisitions on the shareholder wealth of target hotel and restaurant shareholders. Therefore, there were three purposes in this study: 1) to determine whether stockholders of target hotel and restaurant companies involved in acquisitions earned significant additional wealth, 2) to determine whether there is a difference in the average size of additional wealth created in acquisitions involving hospitality companies versus those involving non-hospitality companies, and 3) to determine whether there is a difference in the average size of additional shareholder wealth accruing to hotel versus restaurant shareholders. The sample consisted of 39 restaurant and 18 hotel target companies acquired between 1980 and 1990. The datasource was the University of Chicago's Center for Research in Securities Prices (CRSP) database. The market model was used to predict stock returns for the target companies thirty days before and after the announcement of the acquisition. The difference between the predicted returns and actual returns for each trading day during this period constituted the abnormal return. The average abnormal returns for all the companies per trading day were cumulated and their significance determined. The results showed that the size of the additional shareholder wealth created when the restaurant companies were acquired was 8.86%, hotels was 29.86%, while the combined sample was 15.47%. These results provided evidence that hotel and restaurant shareholders earn significant abnormal returns during an acquisition, and that there is a significant difference in the size of additional shareholder wealth accruing to hospitality companies versus non-hospitality ones. Furthermore, there was a difference in the average size of abnormal returns earned by hotel shareholders versus restaurant shareholders. / Ph. D.