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How to Analyze Stocks with Fundamental Analysis

- Justin Kuepper

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“Price is what you pay; value is what you get.”
– Warren Buffett paraphrasing Benjamin Graham

Fundamental analysis is the foundation of investing. While technical analysis uses statistics to predict a stock’s price movements, fundamental analysis uses financial statements to determine a fair value for the stock. Many investors use fundamental analysis to determine what stock to buy and technical analysis to determine when to buy and sell the stock, while others exclusively use one or the other.

In this article, we’ll take an introductory look at fundamental analysis in order to understand the language and concepts behind it.

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Qualitative Analysis

Fundamental analysis may be largely focused on financial statements, where things like price-earnings (“P/E”) ratios can be calculated, but the first step for most investors is simply learning about the company. After all, a company’s financial statements could look spectacular, but the departure of a key executive could make all the difference in determining where the stock is headed in the future.

There are two ways to go about qualitative analysis:

  • Top-down. The top-down approach begins by looking for attractive industries and then drills down to find attractive company's within those industries. For example, a top-heavy market might make large-cap dividend paying stocks more attractive to reduce risk, so top-down investors might start there.
  • Bottom-up. The bottom-up approach begins by looking for attractively priced company's regardless of their industry. For example, a value investor might screen for stocks trading with P/E ratios below the S&P 500’s average in order to find potentially undervalued company's across the board.

When looking at an industry, investors should consider factors like industry growth rates (e.g. how fast could the company grow), market share (e.g. how much does the company control), and government regulations (e.g. does the government set prices or determine growth). Reading trade publications or looking at economic forecasts from the U.S. Federal Reserve or government can help investors identify this data.

When looking at a company, investors should consider its business model (e.g. how it makes money), its management team (e.g. are they qualified?), its competitive advantages (e.g. what makes them better?), and corporate governance (e.g. do shareholders have any rights?). Reading SEC filings, listening to conference calls, and looking at insider trading data can help investors identify many of these things.

Financial Statements

Financial statements provide investors with a glimpse into the lifeblood of company's. In 10-K and 10-Q filings with the SEC, company's are required to regularly report to investors their overall financial condition and how much money they’ve earned over the period. Investors can then crunch these numbers to determine what an appropriate price to pay is for the company’s stock.

There are three different financial statements:

Investors can look at these numbers in the context of one another to make additional simple calculations. For example, dividing net income by revenue provides investors with net profit margins, while dividing current assets by current liabilities provides the current ratio. These metrics are important for comparing profitability between company's or financial solvency, respectively.

In addition to the financial statements, 10-K and 10-Q SEC filings contain related information that investors might want to consider. The Notes to the Financial Statements contain clarifications about specific reported numbers, which can be useful when something seems out of place. The Management’s Discussion & Analysis section also provides some additional context for the numbers in plain English.

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Types of Valuation

Fundamental analysis is ultimately all about coming up with a fair value for a stock given its qualitative factors and quantitative financial condition. While there are countless different ways to value a company, most methods can be divided into either determining a company’s intrinsic value or looking at its valuation relative to other industry peers in order to determine a fair price to pay.

There are two primary forms of financial statement analysis:

  • Ratio Analysis. Ratio analysis compares various financial metrics to others within a company or to industry peers. For example, P/E ratios are commonly used to assess whether or not a stock is fairly valued intrinsically (e.g. less than 8x is considered undervalued in general) or relative to peers (e.g. a 50x ratio might be undervalued if the industry trades at 80x).
  • DCF Analysis. Discounted cash flow analysis involves projecting a company’s anticipated free cash flow over a period of time and then discounting the future cash flows to the present value to assess what they’re worth. For example, a company might be undervalued if it’s trading for $8 per share when the net present value of its future cash flow amounts to $10 per share.

Discounted cash flow analysis takes a much more direct approach. By creating a financial model based on a company’s financial statements, investors can project future revenue, expenses, and profits, eventually determine the free cash flow, and then discount those future free cash flows to the present value. The key risk in the process is accurately assessing future growth and using the correct discount rate.

The Bottom Line

Fundamental analysis is a diverse and complicated topic that’s covered in many textbooks and courses. In general, the process involves looking qualitatively at a company and its industry, quantitatively at its financial statements, and then assessing a fair valuation using one of many different valuation techniques. Many investors use fundamental analysis to identify promising opportunities and technical analysis to ensure that they are timing the market in an opportunistic way.

Did you know that...

  • In an initial public offering (ipo), the quiet period is a time when company insiders and underwriters are restricted from making promotional statements?
  • Evaluating the 'operating margin' can provide insights into how efficiently a company converts sales into profit?
  • Long-term investing doesn't mean a "set it and forget it" approach, but rather periodic reviews to ensure alignment with one's financial objectives?
  • A longer investment horizon can be beneficial in utilizing the power of compounding, allowing your returns to generate their own returns over time?
  • When comparing multiple investments, CAGR can help in eliminating the effects of varying time periods?

Quotes of the Day:

  • "Investing is about taking calculated risks, not blind risks." - Edward Lampert
  • "The most important investment you can make is in yourself." - Warren Buffett
  • "Investing is not a game of luck, it's a game of skill." - John Rogers
  • "The key to investing is not assessing how much an industry is going to affect society, or how much it will grow, but rather determining the competitive advantage of any given company and, above all, the durability of that advantage." - Jim Simons
  • "The stock market is a voting machine in the short term and a weighing machine in the long term." - Jim Simons

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