What does it mean for a company to have a moat? What are the key drivers to valuation? Pat Dorsey will use examples to shed light on these, and more questions.

About the Book:
Capitalism works. That’s why most businesses with high returns on capital attract competition that forces down profitability over time. However, a small minority of companies are able to defy the laws of economic gravity by creating competitive advantages, or “economic moats” that insulate them from competition and allow them to maintain high returns on capital. After spending fifteen years analyzing thousands of companies, Pat has identified a handful of structural characteristics that create competitive advantage. He will discuss these characteristics, how management teams can create and destroy competitive advantage, and how he applies competitive analysis in managing institutional capital at Dorsey Asset Management.

About the author:
Pat is the founder of Dorsey Asset Management, which manages concentrated global portfolios for institutional investors. Prior to starting Dorsey Asset, Pat was Director of Research for Sanibel Captiva Trust, an independent trust company with approximately $1 billion in assets under management serving high net worth clients.

From 2000 to 2011, Pat was Director of Equity Research for Morningstar, where he led the growth of Morningstar’s equity research group from 10 to over 100 analysts. Pat developed Morningstar’s economic moat ratings, as well as the methodology behind Morningstar's framework for analyzing competitive advantage. Pat is also the author of two books — The Five Rules for Successful Stock Investing and The Little Book that Builds Wealth — and has been quoted in publications such as the Wall Street Journal, Fortune, the New York Times, and BusinessWeek.

Pat holds a Master’s degree in Political Science from Northwestern University and a bachelor’s degree in government from Wesleyan University. He is a CFA charterholder.