Investment Trm Paper
-
Upload
shakera-afroz -
Category
Documents
-
view
225 -
download
0
Transcript of Investment Trm Paper
-
8/6/2019 Investment Trm Paper
1/22
Term PaperOn
Chapter- 4 and 5Fundamental Analysis:Economy, Industry and Company
Analysis
Submitted to:
Dr. Md. Rafiqul Islam
Professor
Department of Banking
University of Dhaka
Submitted by:
Khodeza Kashem (50815003)
Shakera Afroz (50815057)
Rushmila Andalib (50916013)
Course code: CB-605
Course name: Bank Investment Analysis
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:DU_logo.png -
8/6/2019 Investment Trm Paper
2/22
Submission date: 6th April, 2010
Table of Contents
Index Page No
Chapter Four1. Fundamental Analysis: Introduction 032. Fundamental Analysis: What Is It? 043. EIC Frame Work- The Economy Analysis 05
Chapter Five4. EIC Frame Work- The Industry Analysis 085. EIC Frame Work- The Company Analysis 11
6. Financial Statement- The Ratio Analysis 137. Strengths and Weaknesses of Fundamental Analysis 20
Conclusion 21
2
-
8/6/2019 Investment Trm Paper
3/22
Chapter Four
Fundamental Analysis: Introduction
Fundamental Analysis is the process of determining the value of a company by analyzing and
interpreting such key factors as economy, industry, and company.
Fundamental analysis is the examination of the underlying forces that affect the well being of the
economy, industry groups, and companies. As with most analysis, the goal is to derive a forecast
and profit from future price movements. At the company level, fundamental analysis mayinvolve examination of financial data, management, business concept and competition. At the
industry level, there might be an examination of supply and demand forces for the productsoffered. For the national economy, fundamental analysis might focus on economic data to assessthe present and future growth of the economy. To forecast future stock prices, fundamental
analysis combines economic, industry, and company analysis to derive a stock's current fair
value and forecast future value. If fair value is not equal to the current stock price, fundamentalanalysts believe that the stock is either over or under valued and the market price will ultimately
gravitate towards fair value. Fundamentalists do not heed the advice of the random walkers and
believe that markets are weak-form efficient. By believing that prices do not accurately reflect all
available information, fundamental analysts look to capitalize on perceived price discrepancies.
3
-
8/6/2019 Investment Trm Paper
4/22
The EIC valuation process, it is necessary to being with Economic Analysis. If we can envision a
concentric circle with three sections; the first circle holds economic variables used to measure
the health of the economy. The circle in the middle holds industry variables. The center circle ofthe diagram holds valuation variables of the individual firm.
Fundamental analysis thus involves three steps:
Economic Analysis: Business Cycles, Monetary & Fiscal Policy, Economic Indicators, World
Events & Foreign Trade, Inflation, Public Sentiment, GDP Growth, Unemployment,Productivity, Capacity Utilization, etc.
Industry Analysis: Industry Structure, Competition, Supply-Demand Relationships, Product
Quality, Cost Elements, Government Regulation, Business Cycle Exposure, etc.
Analysis of the Individual Firm: Forecasts of Earnings, Dividends and discount rates, BalanceSheet/Income Statement Analysis, Management, Research, Return, Risk, etc
Fundamental Analysis: What Is It?
4
-
8/6/2019 Investment Trm Paper
5/22
The Very Basics
When talking about stocks, fundamental analysis is a technique that attempts to determine asecuritys value by focusing on underlying factors that affect a company's actualbusiness and its
future prospects. On a broader scope, we can perform fundamental analysis on industries or the
economy as a whole. The term simply refers to the analysis of the economic well-being of afinancial entity as opposed to only its price movements.
Fundamental analysis serves to answer questions, such as:
Is the companys 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
The various fundamental factors can be grouped into two categories: quantitative and qualitative.The financial meaning of these terms isnt all that different from their regular definitions. Here is
how the MSN Encarta dictionary defines the terms:
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.
In our context, quantitative fundamentals are numeric, measurable characteristics about a
business. Its 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 companys board members and key executives, its brand-name
recognition,patents orproprietary technology.
5
http://www.investopedia.com/terms/i/industry.asphttp://www.investopedia.com/terms/e/economy.asphttp://www.investopedia.com/terms/p/patent.asphttp://www.investopedia.com/terms/p/proprietarytechnology.asphttp://www.investopedia.com/terms/p/proprietarytechnology.asphttp://www.investopedia.com/terms/e/economy.asphttp://www.investopedia.com/terms/p/patent.asphttp://www.investopedia.com/terms/p/proprietarytechnology.asphttp://www.investopedia.com/terms/i/industry.asp -
8/6/2019 Investment Trm Paper
6/22
EIC Frame Work- The Economy Analysis
Economy analysis is one of most important art of fundamental analysis. Companies are a part of
the industrial and business sector, which in turn is a part of the overall economy. Thus theperformance of a company depends on the performance of the economy in the first place.
If the economy is in recession or stagnation, the performance of companies will be bad in
general, with some exceptions however. On the other hand, if the economy is booming, incomes
are rising and the demand is good, then the industries and the companies in general may be
prosperous, with some exception however.
Most Important Economic indicators are:
National Output:
GDP
Output, the most important concept of macroeconomics, refers to the total amount of goods andservices a country produces, commonly known as the gross domestic product. The figure is like a
snapshot of the economy at a certain point in time. When referring to GDP, macroeconomists
tend to use real GDP, which takes inflation into account, as opposed to nominal GDP, which
reflects only changes in prices. The nominal GDP figure will be higher if inflation goes up fromyear to year, so it is not necessarily indicative of higher output levels, only of higher prices.
UnemploymentThe unemployment rate tells macroeconomists how many people from the available pool of
labor (the labor force) are unable to find work. (For more about employment, Macroeconomists
have come to agree that when the economy has witnessed growth from period to period, which is
6
http://www.investopedia.com/terms/r/realgdp.asphttp://www.investopedia.com/terms/n/nominalgdp.asphttp://www.investopedia.com/terms/u/unemploymentrate.asphttp://www.investopedia.com/terms/r/realgdp.asphttp://www.investopedia.com/terms/n/nominalgdp.asphttp://www.investopedia.com/terms/u/unemploymentrate.asp -
8/6/2019 Investment Trm Paper
7/22
indicated in the GDP growth rate, unemployment levels tend to be low. This is because with
rising (real) GDP levels, we know that output is higher, and, hence, more laborers are needed to
keep up with the greater levels of production
.
Inflation
The third main factor that macroeconomists look at is the inflation rate, or the rate at which
prices rise. Inflation is primarily measured in two ways: through the Consumer Price Index (CPI)
and the GDP deflator. The CPI gives the current price of a selected basket of goods and servicesthat is updated periodically. The GDP deflator is the ratio of nominal GDP to real GDP. If
nominal GDP is higher than real GDP, we can assume that the prices of goods and services has
been rising. Both the CPI and GDP deflator tend to move in the same direction and differ by less
than 1%.
Greasing the Engine of the Economy - What the Government Can Do
Monetary Policy
A simple example ofmonetary policy is the central bank's open-market operations. When thereis a need to increase cash in the economy, the central bank will buy government bonds (monetary
expansion). These securities allow the central bank to inject the economy with an immediate
supply of cash. On the other hand, when the central bank needs to absorb extra money in theeconomy, and push inflation levels down, it will sell its T-bills. This will result in higher interest
rates (less borrowing, less spending and investment) and less demand, which will ultimately push
down price level (inflation) but will also result in less real output.
Fiscal Policy
The government can also increase taxes or lower government spending in order to conduct
a fiscal contraction. What this will do is lower real output because less government spending
means less disposable income for consumers. And, because more of consumers' wages will go totaxes, demand as well as output will decrease. A fiscal expansion by the government would
mean that taxes are decreased or government spending is increased. Ether way, the result will be
growth in real output because the government will stir demand with increased spending. In the
meantime, a consumer with more disposable income will be willing to buy more.
Forecasting Techniques
Anticipatory Surveys
Statistical surveys are used to collect quantitative information about items in a population.
Surveys of human populations and institutions are common in political polling and government,
7
http://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/consumerpriceindex.asphttp://www.investopedia.com/terms/g/gdppricedeflator.asphttp://www.investopedia.com/terms/m/monetarypolicy.asphttp://www.investopedia.com/terms/o/openmarketoperations.asphttp://www.investopedia.com/terms/t/treasurybill.asphttp://www.investopedia.com/terms/f/fiscalpolicy.asphttp://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/consumerpriceindex.asphttp://www.investopedia.com/terms/g/gdppricedeflator.asphttp://www.investopedia.com/terms/m/monetarypolicy.asphttp://www.investopedia.com/terms/o/openmarketoperations.asphttp://www.investopedia.com/terms/t/treasurybill.asphttp://www.investopedia.com/terms/f/fiscalpolicy.asp -
8/6/2019 Investment Trm Paper
8/22
health, social science and marketing research. A survey may focus on opinions or factual
information depending on its purpose, and many surveys involve administering questions to
individuals. When the questions are administered by a researcher, the survey is called astructured interview or a researcher-administered survey. When the questions are administered
by the respondent, the survey is referred to as a questionnaire or a self-administered survey.
Barometric Forecasting Techniques
Barometric techniques examine the relationships between causal or coincident events to predictfuture events. This approach is based on the logic that key current developments can serve as a
barometer of the future. This approach assumes the key developments can be identified,
measured and recorded as a statistical time series.
Leading indicators
An economic indicator that changes before the economy has changed. Examples of leading
indicators include production workweek, building permits, unemployment insurance claims,money supply, inventory changes, andstockprices. TheFed watches many of these indicators as
it decides what to do about interest rates. There are also coincident indicators, which change
about the same time as the overall economy, and lagging indicators, which change after theoverall economy, but these are of minimal use as predictive tools.
Chapter Five
EIC Frame Work- The Industry Analysis
Each industry has differences in terms of its customer base, market share among firms, industry-
wide growth, competition, regulation and business cycles. Learning about how the industryworks will give an investor a deeper understanding of a company's financial health.
This section is divided into four parts:
The Business Cycle
Industry Life Cycle Analysis
Study of the Structure and Characteristics of an Industry
Profit Potential of Industries: Porter Model
The Business Cycle
8
http://www.investorwords.com/1643/economic_indicator.htmlhttp://www.investorwords.com/1652/economy.htmlhttp://www.investorwords.com/2435/indicator.htmlhttp://www.investorwords.com/2435/indicator.htmlhttp://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/production.htmlhttp://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/building-permit.htmlhttp://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/unemployment-insurance.htmlhttp://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/unemployment-insurance.htmlhttp://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/claim.htmlhttp://www.investorwords.com/3110/money_supply.htmlhttp://www.investorwords.com/2589/inventory.htmlhttp://www.investorwords.com/4725/stock.htmlhttp://www.investorwords.com/4725/stock.htmlhttp://www.investorwords.com/1892/Fed.htmlhttp://www.investorwords.com/1892/Fed.htmlhttp://www.investorwords.com/2539/interest_rate.htmlhttp://www.investorwords.com/923/coincident_indicator.htmlhttp://www.investorwords.com/7046/change.htmlhttp://www.investorwords.com/2713/lagging_indicator.htmlhttp://www.investopedia.com/terms/m/marketshare.asphttp://www.investorwords.com/1643/economic_indicator.htmlhttp://www.investorwords.com/1652/economy.htmlhttp://www.investorwords.com/2435/indicator.htmlhttp://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/production.htmlhttp://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/building-permit.htmlhttp://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/unemployment-insurance.htmlhttp://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/claim.htmlhttp://www.investorwords.com/3110/money_supply.htmlhttp://www.investorwords.com/2589/inventory.htmlhttp://www.investorwords.com/4725/stock.htmlhttp://www.investorwords.com/1892/Fed.htmlhttp://www.investorwords.com/2539/interest_rate.htmlhttp://www.investorwords.com/923/coincident_indicator.htmlhttp://www.investorwords.com/7046/change.htmlhttp://www.investorwords.com/2713/lagging_indicator.htmlhttp://www.investopedia.com/terms/m/marketshare.asp -
8/6/2019 Investment Trm Paper
9/22
The economy recurrently experiences periods of expansion and contraction, although the length
and depth of those cycles can be irregular. This recurring pattern of recession and recovery iscalled the Business Cycle.
Stages in Business Cycle:
Expansion
Peak
Contraction
Trough
Industry Life Cycle
Where is the industry in its life cycle? The best returns and most risk tend to occur early in thecycle.
The possible phases are:
Introduction Phase/Birth Phase / Pioneering Stage / Start-up
Growth Phase / Expansion Stage / ConsolidationMature Growth Phase / MaturityDecline Phase / Relative Decline
9
-
8/6/2019 Investment Trm Paper
10/22
Study of the Structure and characteristics of an Industry
Customers
Some companies serve only a handful of customers, while others serve millions. In general, it's ared flag (a negative) if a business relies on a small number of customers for a large portion of its
sales because the loss of each customer could dramatically affect revenues.
Market Share
Understanding a company's present market share can tell volumes about the company's business.
The fact that a company possesses an 85% market share tells you that it is the largest player in its
10
-
8/6/2019 Investment Trm Paper
11/22
market by far. Furthermore, this could also suggest that the company possesses some sort of
"economic moat," in other words, a competitive barrier serving to protect its current and future
earnings, along with its market share.
Industry Growth
One way of examining a company's growth potential is to first examine whether the amount ofcustomers in the overall market will grow. This is crucial because without new customers, a
company has to steal market share in order to grow
Competition
Simply looking at the number of competitors goes a long way in understanding the competitivelandscape for a company. Industries that have limited barriers to entry and a large number of
competing firms create a difficult operating environment for firms.
Regulation
Certain industries are heavily regulated due to the importance or severity of the industry'sproducts and/or services. As important as some of these regulations are to the public, they can
drastically affect the attractiveness of a company for investment purposes.
Profit Potential of Industries: Porter Model
The profit potential of an industry depends on the combined strength of the following 5 basic
competitive forces:
11
Five factors are:
1. Threat of new entrants
2. Rivalry among the existing firms
3. Pressure from substitute products
4. Bargaining power of buyers5. Bargaining power of sellers
http://www.investopedia.com/terms/e/economicmoat.asphttp://www.investopedia.com/terms/e/earnings.asphttp://www.investopedia.com/terms/g/growthrates.asphttp://www.investopedia.com/terms/b/barrierstoentry.asphttp://www.investopedia.com/terms/e/economicmoat.asphttp://www.investopedia.com/terms/e/earnings.asphttp://www.investopedia.com/terms/g/growthrates.asphttp://www.investopedia.com/terms/b/barrierstoentry.asp -
8/6/2019 Investment Trm Paper
12/22
.
EIC Frame Work- The Company Analysis
Fundamental analysis seeks to determine the intrinsic value of a company's stock. But since
qualitative factors, by definition, represent aspects of a company's business that are difficult or
impossible to quantify, incorporating that kind of information into a pricing evaluation can bequite difficult. On the flip side, as we've demonstrated, you can't ignore the less tangible
characteristics of a company.
The massive amount of numbers in a company's financial statements can be bewildering andintimidating to many investors. On the other hand, if you know how to analyze them, the
financial statements are a gold mine of information.
Financial statements are the medium by which a company discloses information concerning its
financial performance. Followers offundamental analysis use the quantitative information
gleaned from financial statements to make investment decisions. Before we jump into thespecifics of the three most important financial statements - income statements, balance sheets
and cash flow statements - we will briefly introduce each financial statement's specific function,
along with where they can be found.
The Major Statements
12
http://www.investopedia.com/terms/f/fundamentalanalysis.asphttp://www.investopedia.com/terms/f/fundamentalanalysis.asphttp://www.investopedia.com/terms/q/quantitativeanalysis.asphttp://www.investopedia.com/terms/i/incomestatement.asphttp://www.investopedia.com/terms/b/balancesheet.asphttp://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/cashflow.asphttp://www.investopedia.com/terms/f/fundamentalanalysis.asphttp://www.investopedia.com/terms/q/quantitativeanalysis.asphttp://www.investopedia.com/terms/i/incomestatement.asphttp://www.investopedia.com/terms/b/balancesheet.asphttp://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/cashflow.asp -
8/6/2019 Investment Trm Paper
13/22
The Balance Sheet
The balance sheet represents a record of a company's assets, liabilities and equity at a particular
point in time. The balance sheet is named by the fact that a business's financial structure balances
in the following manner:
Assets = Liabilities + Shareholders' Equity
Assets represent the resources that the business owns or controls at a given point in time. This
includes items such as cash, inventory, machinery and buildings. The other side of the equation
represents the total value of the financing the company has used to acquire those assets.Financing comes as a result of liabilities orequity. Liabilities represent debt (which of course
must be paid back), while equity represents the total value of money that the owners have
contributed to the business - including retained earnings, which is the profit made in previousyears.
The Income Statement
While the balance sheet takes a snapshot approach in examining a business, the income
statement measures a company's performance over a specific time frame. Technically, you could
have a balance sheet for a month or even a day, but you'll only see public companies reportquarterly and annually.
The income statement presents information about revenues, expenses and profit that was
generated as a result of the business' operations for that period.Statement of Cash Flows
The statement of cash flows represents a record of a business' cash inflows and outflows over a
period of time. Typically, a statement of cash flows focuses on the following cash-related
activities:
Operating Cash Flow (OCF): Cash generated from day-to-day business operations
Cash from investing (CFI): Cash used for investing in assets, as well as the proceeds from
the sale of other businesses, equipment or long-term assets
Cash from financing (CFF): Cash paid or received from the issuing and borrowing offunds.
Financial Statement- The Ratio Analysis
13
http://www.investopedia.com/terms/l/liability.asphttp://www.investopedia.com/terms/e/equity.asphttp://www.investopedia.com/terms/e/equity.asphttp://www.investopedia.com/terms/o/operatingcashflow.asphttp://www.investopedia.com/terms/l/liability.asphttp://www.investopedia.com/terms/e/equity.asphttp://www.investopedia.com/terms/o/operatingcashflow.asp -
8/6/2019 Investment Trm Paper
14/22
Financial ratio (or accounting ratio) is a relative magnitude of two selected numerical valuestaken from an enterprise's financial statements. Often used in accounting, there are many
standard ratios used to try to evaluate the overall financial condition of a corporation or other
organization. Financial ratios may be used by managers within a firm, by current and potentialshareholders (owners) of a firm, and by a firm's creditors. Security analysts use financial ratios to
compare the strengths and weaknesses in various companies. If shares in a company are traded in
a financial market, the market price of the shares is used in certain financial ratios.
Ratios may be expressed as a decimal value, such as 0.10, or given as an equivalent percent
value, such as 10%. Some ratios are usually quoted as percentages, especially ratios that are
usually or always less than 1, such as earnings yield, while others are usually quoted as decimalnumbers, especially ratios that are usually more than 1, such as P/E ratio; these latter are also
called multiples. Given any ratio, one can take its reciprocal; if the ratio was above 1, the
reciprocal will be below 1, and conversely. The reciprocal expresses the same information, butmay be more understandable: for instance, the earnings yield can be compared with bond yields,
while the P/E ratio cannot be: for example, a P/E ratio of 20 corresponds to an earnings yield of5%.
Purpose and types of ratios
Financial ratios quantify many aspects of a business and are an integral part of financial
statement analysis. Financial ratios are categorized according to the financial aspect of the
business which the ratio measures. Liquidity ratios measure the availability of cash to pay debt.
Activity ratios measure how quickly a firm converts non-cash assets to cash assets. Debt ratiosmeasure the firm's ability to repay long-term debt. Profitability ratios measure the firm's use of
its assets and control of its expenses to generate an acceptable rate of return. Market ratios
measure investor response to owning a company's stock and also the cost of issuing stock.
Financial ratios allow for comparisons
between companies
between industries
between different time periods for one company
between a single company and its industry average
Ratios generally hold no meaning unless they are benchmarked against something else, like past
performance or another company. Thus, the ratios of firms in different industries, which face
different risks, capital requirements, and competition.
Profitability ratios
14
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Financial_statementhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accountinghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shareholderhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creditorhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Financial_analysthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Financial_markethttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decimal_separatorhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Percenthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earnings_yieldhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P/E_ratiohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reciprocal_(mathematics)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P/E_ratiohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Financial_statementhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accountinghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shareholderhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creditorhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Financial_analysthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Financial_markethttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decimal_separatorhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Percenthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earnings_yieldhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P/E_ratiohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reciprocal_(mathematics)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P/E_ratio -
8/6/2019 Investment Trm Paper
15/22
Profitability ratios measure the firm's use of its assets and control of its expenses to generate an
acceptable rate of return.
Gross margin, Gross profit margin or Gross Profit Rate
Operating margin, Operating Income Margin, Operating profit margin or Return on sales
Note: Operating income is the difference between operating revenues and operating expenses,
but it is also sometimes used as a synonym for EBIT and operating profit. This is true if the firmhas no non-operating income. (Earnings before interest and taxes / Sales)
Profit margin, net margin or net profit margin
Return on equity (ROE)
Return on investment (ROI ratio or Du Pont Ratio)
15
-
8/6/2019 Investment Trm Paper
16/22
Return on assets (ROA)
Return on Equity Du Pont (ROE Du Pont)
Risk adjusted return on capital (RAROC)
Efficiency ratio
Liquidity ratios
Liquidity ratios measure the availability of cash to pay debt.
Current ratio
Acid-test ratio (Quick ratio)
16
-
8/6/2019 Investment Trm Paper
17/22
Operation cash flow ratio
Activity ratios (Efficiency Ratios)
Activity ratios measure the effectiveness of the firms use of resources.
Average collection period
Degree of Operating Leverage (DOL)
Asset turnover
Stock turnover ratio
Receivables Turnover Ratio
17
-
8/6/2019 Investment Trm Paper
18/22
Inventory conversion ratio
Inventory conversion period
Receivables conversion period
Debt ratios (leveraging ratios)
Debt ratios measure the firm's ability to repay long-term debt. Debt ratios measure financialleverage.
Debt ratio
Debt to equity ratio
Long-term Debt to equity (LT Debt to Equity)
18
-
8/6/2019 Investment Trm Paper
19/22
Times interest-earned ratio / Interest Coverage Ratio
Debt service coverage ratio
Market ratios
Market ratios measure investor response to owning a company's stock and also the cost ofissuing stock.
Earnings per share (EPS)
Payout ratio
19
-
8/6/2019 Investment Trm Paper
20/22
Dividend cover (the inverse of Payout Ratio)
P/E ratio
Dividend yield
Price/sales ratio
PEG ratio
Strengths and Weakness of Fundamental Analysis
20
-
8/6/2019 Investment Trm Paper
21/22
Strengths
Long-term Trends
Fundamental analysis is good for long-term investments based on long-term trends, very long-
term. The ability to identify and predict long-term economic, demographic, technological or
consumer trends can benefit patient investors who pick the right industry groups or companies.
Value Spotting
Sound fundamental analysis will help identify companies that represent a good value. Some of
the most legendary investors think long-term and value. Graham and Dodd, Warren Buffett andJohn Neff are seen as the champions of value investing. Fundamental analysis can help uncover
companies with valuable assets, a strong balance sheet, stable earnings, and staying power.
Business Acumen
One of the most obvious, but less tangible, rewards of fundamental analysis is the development
of a thorough understanding of the business. After such painstaking research and analysis, an
investor will be familiar with the key revenue and profit drivers behind a company. Earnings and
earnings expectations can be potent drivers of equity prices. Even some technicians will agree tothat. A good understanding can help investors avoid companies that are prone to shortfalls and
identify those that continue to deliver. In addition to understanding the business, fundamental
analysis allows investors to develop an understanding of the key value drivers and companieswithin an industry.
Weaknesses
Time Constraints
Fundamental analysis may offer excellent insights, but it can be extraordinarily time-consuming.
Time-consuming models often produce valuations that are contradictory to the current price
prevailing on Wall Street. When this happens, the analyst basically claims that the whole street
has got it wrong. This is not to say that there are not misunderstood companies out there, but it isquite brash to imply that the market price, and hence Wall Street, is wrong.
Industry/Company Specific
Valuation techniques vary depending on the industry group and specifics of each company. For
this reason, a different technique and model is required for different industries and different
companies. This can get quite time-consuming, which can limit the amount of research that can
be performed.
21
-
8/6/2019 Investment Trm Paper
22/22
Subjectivity
Fair value is based on assumptions. Any changes to growth or multiplier assumptions can greatly
alter the ultimate valuation. Fundamental analysts are generally aware of this and use sensitivity
analysis to present a base-case valuation, an average-case valuation and a worst-case valuation.
However, even on a worst-case valuation, most models are almost always bullish, the onlyquestion is how much so.
Analyst Bias
The majority of the information that goes into the analysis comes from the company itself.
Companies employ investor relations managers specifically to handle the analyst community and
release information. As Mark Twain said, "there are lies, damn lies, and statistics."
Conclusions
Fundamental analysis can be valuable, but it should be approached with caution. If you are
reading research written by a sell-side analyst, it is important to be familiar with the analystbehind the report. We all have personal biases, and every analyst has some sort of bias. There is
nothing wrong with this, and the research can still be of great value. Learn what the ratings mean
and the track record of an analyst before jumping off the deep end. Corporate statements andpress releases offer good information, but they should be read with a healthy degree of
skepticism to separate the facts from the spin. Press releases don't happen by accident; they are
an important PR tool for companies. Investors should become skilled readers to weed out theimportant information and ignore the hype.