So far I have been talking about the virtues of the value approach as if I had never heard of such newer discoveries as "the random walk." "the efficient portfolios," the Beta coefficient, and others such. I have heard about them, and I want to talk first for a moment about Beta. This is a more or less useful measure of past price fluctuations of common stocks. What bothers me is that authorities now equate the Beta idea with the concept of "risk." Price variability yes; risk no. Real investment risk is measured not by the percent that a stock may decline in price in relation to the general market in a given period, but by the danger of a loss of quality and earning power through economic changes or deterioration in management. In the five editions of The Intelligent Investor, I have used the example of A&P shares in 1936-1939 to illustrate the basic difference between fluctuations in price and changes in value. By contrast, in the last decade the price decline of A&P shares from $43 to $8 paralleled pretty well a corresponding loss of trade position, profitability, and intrinsic value. The idea of measuring investment risks by price fluctuations is repugnant to me, for the very reason that it confuses what the stock market says with what actually happens to the owners' stake in the business.