Investing built on Economic Margin®.
Applied Finance is an employee-owned manager built around one idea: intrinsic value, measured through Economic Margin®, is a better guide to what a business is worth than accounting book value. Explore the research below, or browse our full lineup of funds and ETFs.
Peer-reviewed, not back-tested marketing
Both papers below are published in the Financial Analysts Journal — the same journal that introduced the original Fama-French value factor.
Financial Analysts Journal
Intrinsic Value: A Solution to the Declining Performance of Value Strategies
- Book-to-market has produced statistically zero alpha since 1999
- An intrinsic-value approach over the same period produced meaningfully positive alpha
Financial Analysts Journal
Profitability Meets Investment: The Wealth Creation Effect in Stock Returns
- Traditional models treat investment as a headwind to returns — corporate finance says scaling positive-NPV projects creates value. This paper resolves the contradiction
- When profitability exceeds the cost of capital, more investment means higher returns, not lower
CFA In Practice · Interview
Professor Francesco Franzoni on the flaws in traditional value investing
A short, plain-language walkthrough of the key takeaways from the research above, and how an Intrinsic Value approach addresses the gap.
Intrinsic Value Stewardship™
Broad-based, rules-driven strategies that remove overvalued companies and poor capital stewards, then reweight the remaining universe by intrinsic value.
ETF wrappers
Global allocation
IVS US Large CapBenchmark: Russell 1000
IVS US SMID CapBenchmark: Russell 2000
Schedule time with an Applied Finance rep
Tell us a little about what you’re looking for and we’ll follow up after the conference — or grab time directly if you’d rather not wait.
Prefer email? Reach us directly at info@appliedfinance.com
Applied Finance Capital Management is an employee-owned investment management firm. Economic Margin® and Intrinsic Value Stewardship™ are used to identify and evaluate securities and do not guarantee investment performance. Past performance is not indicative of future results. This material is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice or an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any security. [Full disclosure language pending compliance review.]