Though he has long since stepped back from the special situation investing in which he made his name, Joel Greenblatt is a real titan of modern stockpicking.
Like many star investors, Greenblatt’s career began with a bang. After founding the hedge fund Gotham Capital in 1985, he and his business partner Robert Goldstein racked up average annual returns of 50 per cent before fees over a decade. Content with their achievements, and preferring instead to manage their own account, the partners returned money to their investors.
Soon after, Greenblatt branched out into the field for which he is now best known. First with You Can Be a Stock Market Genius and then in The Little Book That Beats The Market, he sought to unpack the secrets of his investment success in an accessible format. While intended for a mass market, the books’ fans within the hedge fund world shows that the simplicity and effectiveness of his methods and stockpicking process aren't simply a mass marketing gimmick.