Security Analysis was published by McGraw-Hill, and written by David Dodd and Benjamin Graham in the early 1930s, when both authors taught at Columbia University's business school.

Writes The New York Times, "it was intended as a common-sense guide for investors but turned out to be a thick textbook that went through five editions and sold more than 250,000 copies [by 1988].

[citation needed] In Security Analysis, Graham proposed a clear definition of investment that was distinguished from what he deemed speculation.

However, it or phrases closely equivalent were almost certainly first used in connection with the theory of value investing as developed initially by Graham in Security Analysis in 1934.

[citation needed] Starting in 1962, Benjamin Graham describes in the fourth and subsequent editions a heuristic he used to value stocks first stated in his 1949 book, The Intelligent Investor, as follows: V = Intrinsic Value EARNINGS = Trailing Twelve Months Earnings 8.5 = P/E base for a no-growth company g = reasonably expected 7 to 10 year growth rate Graham’s formula took no account of prevailing interest rates.

[4] "The Superinvestors of Graham-and-Doddsville" is a 1984 article by Warren Buffett promoting value investing, which was based on a speech given on May 17, 1984, at the Columbia University School of Business in honor of the 50th anniversary of the publication of Security Analysis.

"[5] The CFA Institute in 2012 wrote that "The roots of value investing can be traced back to the 1934 publication of Benjamin Graham and David Dodd’s classic, Security Analysis.

"[6] In 2015, The Wall Street Journal wrote that Security Analysis "is widely viewed as the urtext of modern value investing.

The long-held idea is that some stocks trade significantly below an identified “intrinsic value” and can be bought at a discount, with a built-in margin of safety against a complete washout.

The article states that "Graham, the primary author, then an obscure professor and money manager, chose the Great Depression as the time to assert his faith in patient security analysis and long-term investing.