Patent ID: 7533055

Claim:
A method of investing in financial instruments, the method comprising: for each of a plurality of financial instruments: determining, by a processing unit, a net asset value pertaining to a company associated with the financial instrument, determining, by the processing unit, an expected return on investment for one or more of an asset acquisition, an asset disposition, an asset development, a capital investment, a capital liability, an assumption of debt and a debt reduction by: determining a first amount of leverage available to the company, determining a second amount of leverage used by the company, determining an expected yield for an investment, if the first amount of leverage is greater than the second amount of leverage and the expected yield is greater than a cost of debt, determining a cost of debt and setting the expected return on investment for the investment to the difference between the expected yield and the cost of debt, if the second amount of leverage is greater than the first amount of leverage and the expected yield is less than a cost of capital, determining a cost of capital and setting the expected return on investment for the investment to the difference between the cost of capital and the expected yield, and if the first amount of leverage equals the second amount of leverage, determining a weighted average cost of capital and setting the expected return on investment for the investment to the difference between the expected yield and the weighted average cost of capital, adjusting the net asset value for the company based on at least the expected return on investment, and determining a discount percentage for the financial instrument based at least in part on the adjusted net asset value; ranking the plurality of financial instruments based on the discount percentage for each financial instrument; and displaying the ranked financial instruments.