A spin-off occurs when a company breaks off one or more of its segments into a separate publicly traded company. Besides being a historically 'nutritious' place to hunt for value, the dynamics behind a spin-off are inherently interesting and oppose the forces that make markets efficient.

In this episode, which is part one of an undetermined number of episodes on the subject, we  cover key attributes that are indicative of a compelling spin-off worth digging into, as described in Joel Greenblatt's book on special situations.