When you purchase a stock, do you use data to drive your decision? Have you ever looked at the fundamental analysis section of a stocks information and found yourself lost? In this article, we will put together some of the most important metrics and explain how to use them to make more informed decisions.
Return on Investment (ROI) is simply the money a company has made or lost on an investment. If an individual investor were to invest $1,000 into McDonalds stock and five years later sold it for $2,000, they had a 100% return on investment or ROI. The return is divided by the cost of the investment to produce the ROI. The problem with this metric is that its easy to manipulate. Although the calculation is easy, what a company chooses to include in the costs of the investment may change. Did they include all costs in the calculation or selected costs? Before relying on the ROI, it is important to research how it was calculated.
EPS is a measure of a companys profit. Take the profit, subtract the dividends and divide that number by the number of shares outstanding. Although EPS will tell the investor how much money the company is earning per share, it doesnt provide the expense information. If one

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