Fundamental Analysis
Fundamental analysis is the process of studying the financial condition and operating performance of a business before making an investment decision. The goal is to look beyond the stock price and understand the company behind the ticker.
Fundamental Analysis Lessons
What Makes a Company Fundamentally Sound?
Learn how earnings, assets, liabilities, profitability, debt, cash flow, and other financial measures can help you evaluate the financial strength of a company.
Read LessonUnderstanding the Income Statement
Learn how revenue, expenses, operating income, net income, and earnings per share help describe a company's financial performance.
Read LessonUnderstanding the Balance Sheet
Learn how assets, liabilities, shareholder equity, cash, and debt help describe a company's financial position.
Read LessonUnderstanding the Cash Flow Statement
Learn how operating, investing, and financing cash flows reveal how cash moves through a business and how free cash flow can add context to reported earnings.
Read LessonMeasuring Profitability
Learn how profit margins, return on equity, and return on invested capital can be used to study profitability and operating efficiency.
Read LessonUnderstanding Debt and Financial Strength
Learn how debt, debt-to-equity, liquidity, and financial obligations can affect a company's financial strength and risk.
Read LessonDividends and Share Buybacks
Learn how companies return capital to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases and what investors should examine when researching them.
Read LessonLooking at Five Years Instead of One
Learn why examining several years of financial history can reveal trends, consistency, cyclicality, and unusual periods that a single year may hide.
Read LessonPutting the Fundamentals Together
Learn how earnings, balance-sheet strength, profitability, debt, cash flow, dividends, and other financial measures can be considered together as part of a structured research process.
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