Finding and using stock fundamentals data
The power of fundamental analysis to ascertain the value of a company is based on the idea that all businesses essentially carry out the same, common activities. These activities can range from salaries and marketing spend to spending on research and capital assets, and receiving investment income. Because these activities can all be reduced to financial quantities, they can therefore be directly compared across companies. Analysts can use common metrics like revenues, R&D spend, COGS and free cash flow to create an accurate assessment of comparative value between, for example, a software stock versus an auto stock. Between the advent...