The Investments course comprises an intensive overview of the craft of fundamental investing in both the public and private equity markets. The pedagogy of F321 is three-fold: - Each of our FINANCE 20 class sessions is taught by a great GSB alumni investor. These sessions are a mix of cases forcing you to come to judgments on potential investments, and talks around an investor's Investment Philosophy and underwriting approach. All of our speakers are fundamental investors (those who look to business fundamentals to determine future value) we do not bring in speculative traders, macro hedge funds, crypto pioneers, etc. - In addition to the class sessions, there is a significant amount of out-of-class reading. Two of the most influential investing books ever written - The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham and Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits and Other Writings by Philip Fisher - are required reading. These texts are augmented with a series of FINANCE 10 Teaching Notes that we have developed to translate the principles and wisdom of Graham and Fisher, along with those of Warren Buffett, Charlie Munger, Seth Klarman and other investment greats, into a concrete investment methodology that you can apply in practice. These Teaching Notes begin with a discussion of broad-based fundamental investing topics - risk-taking, modelling, valuation and capital structure fundamentals - and then outline the approach of a persona we have developed to reflect the views of Graham, Fisher, et al - the Conservative Fundamental Investor. - The class culminates in two final projects designed to put the learnings from the class into practice: (1) an Investment Memo on a public company, outlining a company overview, an investment thesis, a valuation assessment and ultimately your judgment of whether or not to make an investment in the stock of the company, and (2) a paper detailing your personal Investment Philosophy that you will develop based on perspectives you will be exposed to in the class. This paper is your opportunity to explore your own views on how you plan to invest going forward. This class is relevant for students who intend to pursue careers in private or public equity investing, as well as those who want to better understand investing from the perspective of an entrepreneur, senior executive or individual. It is not, however, an entry-level finance class. It is expected that all students come into F321 with basic corporate finance, statistics, modelling and strategy tool kits. In establishing the elements of the investing craft that we will cover in this course, we will go back to First Principles and reground new concepts in these core underlying skills. But our aim for the quarter is to layer on to this foundation the intellectual, interpersonal and, as importantly, the intrapersonal (self-awareness, humility, mental discipline, patience and equanimity are critical elements of the craft!) framework for how to apply these skills to become a great investor. This is a lot to cover in one quarter and means we will not have the bandwidth to address the foundational skills sets, on top of which this course is built, in any meaningful capacity. Established and taught for FINANCE 50 years by the legendary Professor Jack McDonald, the Investments course will be taught again in 2026 by Erik Ragatz `FINANCE 01, former Partner of Hellman & Friedman and member of their investment team for over FINANCE 20 years, and Professor Steve Grenadier.
4 units · GSB Letter Graded
The Investments course comprises an intensive overview of the craft of fundamental investing in both the public and private equity markets. The pedagogy of F321 is three-fold: - Each of our 20 class sessions is taught by a great GSB alumni investor. These sessions are a mix of cases forcing you to come to judgments on potential investments, and talks around an investor's Investment Philosophy and underwriting approach. All of our speakers are fundamental investors (those who look to business fundamentals to determine future value) we do not bring in speculative traders, macro hedge funds, crypto pioneers, etc. - In addition to the class sessions, there is a significant amount of out-of-class reading. Two of the most influential investing books ever written - The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham and Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits and Other Writings by Philip Fisher - are required reading. These texts are augmented with a series of 10 Teaching Notes that we have developed to translate the principles and wisdom of Graham and Fisher, along with those of Warren Buffett, Charlie Munger, Seth Klarman and other investment greats, into a concrete investment methodology that you can apply in practice. These Teaching Notes begin with a discussion of broad-based fundamental investing topics - risk-taking, modelling, valuation and capital structure fundamentals - and then outline the approach of a persona we have developed to reflect the views of Graham, Fisher, et al - the Conservative Fundamental Investor. - The class culminates in two final projects designed to put the learnings from the class into practice: (1) an Investment Memo on a public company, outlining a company overview, an investment thesis, a valuation assessment and ultimately your judgment of whether or not to make an investment in the stock of the company, and (2) a paper detailing your personal Investment Philosophy that you will develop based on perspectives you will be exposed to in the class. This paper is your opportunity to explore your own views on how you plan to invest going forward. This class is relevant for students who intend to pursue careers in private or public equity investing, as well as those who want to better understand investing from the perspective of an entrepreneur, senior executive or individual. It is not, however, an entry-level finance class. It is expected that all students come into F321 with basic corporate finance, statistics, modelling and strategy tool kits. In establishing the elements of the investing craft that we will cover in this course, we will go back to First Principles and reground new concepts in these core underlying skills. But our aim for the quarter is to layer on to this foundation the intellectual, interpersonal and, as importantly, the intrapersonal (self-awareness, humility, mental discipline, patience and equanimity are critical elements of the craft!) framework for how to apply these skills to become a great investor. This is a lot to cover in one quarter and means we will not have the bandwidth to address the foundational skills sets, on top of which this course is built, in any meaningful capacity. Established and taught for 50 years by the legendary Professor Jack McDonald, the Investments course will be taught again in 2026 by Erik Ragatz `01, former Partner of Hellman & Friedman and member of their investment team for over 20 years, and Professor Steve Grenadier.
Offered in Autumn 2026 at Stanford University.