Each article discusses related ratios. Fundamental analysis is a method used to determine the value of a stock by analyzing the financial data that is 'fundamental' to the company. That means that fundamental analysis takes into consideration only those variables that are directly related to the company itself, such as its earnings, its dividends, and its sales.
Earnings
It is often said that earnings are the "bottom line" when it comes to valuing a company's stock, and indeed fundamental analysis places much emphasis upon a company's earnings. Simply put, earnings are how much profit (or loss) a company has made after subtracting expenses. During a specific period of time, all public companies are required to report their earnings on a quarterly basis through a 10-Q Report . Earnings are important to investors because they give an indication of the company's expected dividends and its potential for growth and capital appreciation.
Earnings Per Share
Comparing total net earnings for various companies is usually not a good idea, since net earnings numbers don't take into account how many shares of stock are outstanding (in other words, they don't take into account how many owners you have to divide the earnings among). In order to make earnings comparisons more useful across companies, fundamental analysts instead look at a company's earnings per share (EPS).
EPS is calculated by taking a company's net earnings and dividing by the number of outstanding shares of stock the company has. For example, if a company reports $10 million in net earnings for the previous year and has 5 million shares of stock outstanding, then that company has an EPS of $2 per share. EPS can be calculated for the previous year ("trailing EPS"), for the current year ("current EPS"), or for the coming year ("forward EPS").
P/E Ratio
EPS is a great way to compare earnings across companies, but it doesn't tell you anything about how the market values the stock. That's why fundamental analysts use the price-to-earnings ratio, more commonly known as the P/E ratio, to figure out how much the market is willing to pay for a company's earnings. You can calculate a stock's P/E ratio by taking its price per share and dividing by its EPS. Companies that are not currently profitable (that is, ones which have negative earnings) don't have a P/E ratio at all. For those companies you may want to calculate the price-to-sales ratio (PSR) instead .
PEG
So is a stock with a high P/E ratio always overvalued? The stock could have a high P/E ratio because investors are convinced that it will have strong earnings growth in the future and so they bid up the stock's price now. Fortunately, there is another ratio that you can use that takes into consideration a stock's projected earnings growth: it's called the PEG. PEG is calculated by taking a stock's P/E ratio and dividing by its expected percentage earnings growth for the next year.
Dividend Yield
The dividend yield measures what percentage return a company pays out to its shareholders in the form of dividends . Mature, well-established companies tend to have higher dividend yields, while young, growth-oriented companies tend to have lower ones, and most small growing companies don't have a dividend yield at all because they don't pay out dividends.
Dividend Payout Ratio
The dividend payout ratio shows what percentage of a company's earnings it is paying out to investors in the form of dividends. It is calculated by taking the company's annual dividends per share and dividing by its annual earnings per share (EPS). So, if a company pays out $1 per share annually in dividends and it has an EPS of $2 for the year, then that company has a dividend payout ratio of 50%; in other words, the company paid out 50% of its earnings in dividends. Companies that distribute dividends typically use about 25% to 50% of their earnings for dividend payments.
Book Value
The book value of a company is the company's net worth, as measured by its total assets minus its total liabilities. values across companies, you should use book value per share, which is simply the company's last quarterly book value divided by the number of shares of stock it has outstanding.
Price / Book
A company's price-to-book ratio (P/B ratio) is determined by taking the company's per share stock price and dividing by the company's book value per share. For instance, if a company currently trades at $100 and has a book value per share of $5, then that company has a P/B ratio of 20. The higher the ratio, the higher the premium the market is willing to pay for the company above its hard assets. Price-to-book ratio is of more interest to value investors than growth investors.
Price / Sales Ratio
As with earnings and book value, you can find out how much the market is valuing a company by comparing the company's price to its annual sales. You can calculate the P/S by taking the stock's current price and dividing by the company's total sales per share for the past year (or equivalently, by dividing the entire company's market cap by its total sales). Because of the limitations, P/S ratios are usually used only for unprofitable companies, since such companies don't have a P/E ratio .
Return on equity (ROE) shows you how much profit a company generates in comparison to its book value. The ratio is calculated by taking a company's after-tax income (after preferred stock dividends but before common stock dividends) and dividing by its book value (which is equal to its assets minus its liabilities). Investors usually look for companies with ROEs that are high and growing
Earnings
It is often said that earnings are the "bottom line" when it comes to valuing a company's stock, and indeed fundamental analysis places much emphasis upon a company's earnings. Simply put, earnings are how much profit (or loss) a company has made after subtracting expenses. During a specific period of time, all public companies are required to report their earnings on a quarterly basis through a 10-Q Report . Earnings are important to investors because they give an indication of the company's expected dividends and its potential for growth and capital appreciation.
Earnings Per Share
Comparing total net earnings for various companies is usually not a good idea, since net earnings numbers don't take into account how many shares of stock are outstanding (in other words, they don't take into account how many owners you have to divide the earnings among). In order to make earnings comparisons more useful across companies, fundamental analysts instead look at a company's earnings per share (EPS).
EPS is calculated by taking a company's net earnings and dividing by the number of outstanding shares of stock the company has. For example, if a company reports $10 million in net earnings for the previous year and has 5 million shares of stock outstanding, then that company has an EPS of $2 per share. EPS can be calculated for the previous year ("trailing EPS"), for the current year ("current EPS"), or for the coming year ("forward EPS").
P/E Ratio
EPS is a great way to compare earnings across companies, but it doesn't tell you anything about how the market values the stock. That's why fundamental analysts use the price-to-earnings ratio, more commonly known as the P/E ratio, to figure out how much the market is willing to pay for a company's earnings. You can calculate a stock's P/E ratio by taking its price per share and dividing by its EPS. Companies that are not currently profitable (that is, ones which have negative earnings) don't have a P/E ratio at all. For those companies you may want to calculate the price-to-sales ratio (PSR) instead .
PEG
So is a stock with a high P/E ratio always overvalued? The stock could have a high P/E ratio because investors are convinced that it will have strong earnings growth in the future and so they bid up the stock's price now. Fortunately, there is another ratio that you can use that takes into consideration a stock's projected earnings growth: it's called the PEG. PEG is calculated by taking a stock's P/E ratio and dividing by its expected percentage earnings growth for the next year.
Dividend Yield
The dividend yield measures what percentage return a company pays out to its shareholders in the form of dividends . Mature, well-established companies tend to have higher dividend yields, while young, growth-oriented companies tend to have lower ones, and most small growing companies don't have a dividend yield at all because they don't pay out dividends.
Dividend Payout Ratio
The dividend payout ratio shows what percentage of a company's earnings it is paying out to investors in the form of dividends. It is calculated by taking the company's annual dividends per share and dividing by its annual earnings per share (EPS). So, if a company pays out $1 per share annually in dividends and it has an EPS of $2 for the year, then that company has a dividend payout ratio of 50%; in other words, the company paid out 50% of its earnings in dividends. Companies that distribute dividends typically use about 25% to 50% of their earnings for dividend payments.
Book Value
The book value of a company is the company's net worth, as measured by its total assets minus its total liabilities. values across companies, you should use book value per share, which is simply the company's last quarterly book value divided by the number of shares of stock it has outstanding.
Price / Book
A company's price-to-book ratio (P/B ratio) is determined by taking the company's per share stock price and dividing by the company's book value per share. For instance, if a company currently trades at $100 and has a book value per share of $5, then that company has a P/B ratio of 20. The higher the ratio, the higher the premium the market is willing to pay for the company above its hard assets. Price-to-book ratio is of more interest to value investors than growth investors.
Price / Sales Ratio
As with earnings and book value, you can find out how much the market is valuing a company by comparing the company's price to its annual sales. You can calculate the P/S by taking the stock's current price and dividing by the company's total sales per share for the past year (or equivalently, by dividing the entire company's market cap by its total sales). Because of the limitations, P/S ratios are usually used only for unprofitable companies, since such companies don't have a P/E ratio .
Return on equity (ROE) shows you how much profit a company generates in comparison to its book value. The ratio is calculated by taking a company's after-tax income (after preferred stock dividends but before common stock dividends) and dividing by its book value (which is equal to its assets minus its liabilities). Investors usually look for companies with ROEs that are high and growing
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