📖William Gann

Capital Allocation Assessment

🌿 Intermediate★★★★★

Evaluate management's capital allocation skills.

💬

The most important skill for a CEO is capital allocation. Evaluate how management deploys capital — do they create or destroy value with their decisions?

— 45 Years in Wall Street,1949

🏠 Everyday Analogy

Valuation is like buying a house: the asking price reflects mood, but true value comes from structure, location, and long-term utility. Good assets still need sensible prices.

📖 Core Interpretation

In Capital Allocation Assessment, W.D. Gann focuses on the gap between price and value. Returns come from paying less than what a business is worth, not from guessing short-term market moves.
💎 Key Insight:Capital allocation is the CEO's most impactful decision.

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❓ Why It Matters

Ignoring valuation turns even good companies into poor investments. Overpaying compresses future returns and leaves little margin when assumptions are wrong.

🎯 How to Practice

Estimate intrinsic value with conservative assumptions, set clear buy ranges, and act only when price offers a meaningful discount with acceptable downside.

⚠️ Common Pitfalls

Confusing a low price with true cheapness
Using one metric without business context
Overly optimistic assumptions that erase margin of safety

📚 Case Studies

1
Pre-Crash Distribution Pattern (1929)
Gann observes repeated geometric and cyclical signals of exhaustion in leading industrials before the 1929 crash, aligning with his natural law timing cycles and price angles.
✨ Outcome:Reduces long exposure and initiates short positions, profiting significantly as the market collapses into 1932.
2
War-Time Low and Cyclical Turn (1942)
Amid WWII pessimism and panic selling, Gann’s time cycles and natural law of vibration signal a major low in U.S. equities around April–May 1942.
✨ Outcome:Accumulates quality stocks near the lows, capturing the early phase of the long post-war bull market.

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