Checklist for Financial Statement Analysis • Income Statements – Look at Cost of Revenue / Total Revenue to determine margins (i.e., a number close to 1 will indicate thin margins. – Look at Operating Income: are they making money before taxes? – Look at Interest Expense: is it crippling? – Anomalies to be wary of: • • One year bumps Income Tax Expense
– Look at year over year (yoy) growth of Net Income: how fast is growth? • Balance Sheets – Current Assets and Liabilities • • Solvency – can the company pay its bills? Cash as percentage of Total Stockholder Equity – optimally, this will be large, but the cash on hand should not have been sitting around for a long while. Are there large, unchanging Inventories?
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– Long Term Assets and Liabilities • Goodwill and Intangible Assets – unavoidable for companies in tech (acquisitions goodwill) and media (brands intangible assets) – but you don’t want this to be too large. Long Term Debt – unavoidable to grow, but you want it to be decreasing, and you don’t want this to be crippling.
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Cash Flow Statements
– Operating Activities • • – Depreciation: Is depreciation a significant portion of cash flow? Changes in Accounts Receivables (or Inventory): Is the company claiming revenue that they had already accounted for or just taking on more invoices?
Investing Activities
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Property, Plant, and Equipment (Capital Expenditures): Is the company investing conservatively relative to its cash from operating activities?
Financing Activities • • Net Borrowings (Sale/Purchase of Debt, Payment of Loans, etc.): Is the company paying off a sufficient amount of its debt each quarter? Sale/Purchase of Stock: Is the company buying back equity?
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Fundamental Point to Keep in Mind: Always look for the underlying story behind what drew you to a stock in the first place. – Low P/E (i.e., bargain)? • Then want earnings to be sustainable (no one year bumps).
– Low P/B? • Want a minimum of goodwill and intangible assets.