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Monday, August 3, 2009

Fundamental Analysis of Stock Market

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Fundamental analysis of stock market is the cornerstone of investing. In fact, some would say that you aren't really investing if you aren't performing fundamental analysis. Because the subject is so broad, however, it's tough to know where to start. There are an endless number of investment strategies that are very different from each other, yet almost all use the fundamentals. The biggest part of fundamental analysis involves delving into the financial statements. Also known as quantitative analysis of stock market, this involves looking at revenue, expenses, assets, liabilities and all the other financial aspects of a company.

The Very Basics of fundamental analysis of stock When talking about stocks, fundamental analysis is a technique that attempts to determine a security’s value by focusing on underlying factors that affect a company's actual business and its future prospects. Fundamental analysis serves to answer questions, such as: Is the company’s revenue growing? Is it actually making a profit? Is it in a strong-enough position to beat out its competitors in the future? Is it able to repay its debts? Is management trying to "cook the books?

Fundamentals: Quantitative and Qualitative
You could define fundamental analysis as “researching the fundamentals”. Fundamentals include anything related to the economic well-being of a company like revenue and profit. The various fundamental factors can be grouped into two categories: quantitative and qualitative. The financial meaning of these terms isn’t all that different from their regular definitions. Quantitative – capable of being measured or expressed in numerical terms. Qualitative – related to or based on the quality or character of something, often as opposed to its size or quantity. Quantitative fundamentals are numeric, measurable characteristics about a business. It’s easy to see how the biggest source of quantitative data is the financial statements. You can measure revenue, profit, assets and more with great precision. Turning to qualitative fundamentals, these are the less tangible factors surrounding a business - things such as the quality of a company’s board members and key executives, its brand-name recognition, patents or proprietary technology.

Quantitative Meets Qualitative
Neither qualitative nor quantitative analysis is inherently better than the other. Instead, many analysts consider qualitative factors in conjunction with the hard, quantitative factors. Take the Coca-Cola Company, for example. When examining its stock, an analyst might look at the stock’s annual dividend payout, earnings per share, P/E ratio and many other quantitative factors. However, no analysis of Coca-Cola would be complete without taking into account its brand recognition. Anybody can start a company that sells sugar and water, but few companies on earth are recognized by billions of people. It’s tough to put your finger on exactly what the Coke brand is worth, but you can be sure that it’s an essential ingredient contributing to the company’s ongoing success.

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