Fundamental Analysis
Fundamental Analysis
Intrinsic value of a security is the present value of all future cash payments to be paid on the
security. Cash payments may be in the form of dividends, interests, liquidation proceeds, or
repayment of the principal amount.
Calculated by discounting the company’s prospective earning stream or by discounting
shareholder’s prospective dividend stream.
Range of intrinsic values are calculated and if the value of the security lies outside this
range, then it is said to be mispriced.
Since intrinsic value is calculated by discounting uncertain future projections at different
discount rates by different investors, we can safely say that every investor will get a
different intrinsic value of a security. The market price of a security is the consensus intrinsic
value of that security.
Note- Stock prices are determined by the expected stream of benefits and the required rate
of return or the P/E ratio of the company.
MARKET ANALYSIS:
In India, corporate earnings have a huge impact on the stock prices. Economic and fiscal
policies have a great bearing on the corporate earnings of a company.
If the market is up, almost all industries do well whereas if the market is in recession, all
investors will not do well. Fundamental analysis is moot here.
Methods of analysing the market are through economic forecasting of factors that affect the
future stock prices. This is done via-
INDUSTRY ANALYSIS:
After the market has been analysed and considered to have a conducive environment for
investing, the next step is to analyse the various industries. Key characteristics of all the
industries to be evaluated are – past sales and earnings performance, permanence of the
industry, attitude of the government towards the industry, labor conditions within the
industry, competitive conditions, industry share prices relative to its earnings.
Steps in industry analysis are as follows-
1) Industry life cycle analysis- an industry can be in its pioneering stage, expansion
stage, stabilization stage or declining stage. The expansion stage is of great
importance to the investors as the growth is rapid but orderly.
2) Business life cycle analysis- helps investors predict the performance of the industry
over shorter periods of time by dividing them into growth industry, defensive
industry and cyclical industry. Investors usually lookout for growth industries.
3) Structural Analysis- the strength of the competitive forces in an industry determines
the degree to which this inflow of investment occurs and derives the return to the
free market level, and thus the ability of firms to sustain above average returns. The
competitive forces of an industry include- threat of entry, threat of substitution,
bargaining power of buyers(individuals, retailers and wholesalers), bargaining power
of suppliers and rivalry among current competitors.
4) Study of impact of changes in government policy on the industry
COMPANY ANALYSIS:
After an industry has been shortlisted to be invested in, we analyse which firms are the
superior performers in the industry and are to be invested in. This can be done by examining
the various financial(profitability ratios, leverage ratios and return on equity) and non-
financial(business of the company, top management, product range, diversification, foreign
collaboration, availability of costs of inputs, research and development, governmental
regulations and pattern of shareholding and listing) parameters of the firm.
Notes-
1) Profitability ratios include roi, net profit margin, roe, eps and dividend cover. There
are a few more ratios for the secondary market like earnings-price ratio and market
yield. Investors prefer a company with stable profitability.
2) Leverage ratios include debt-equity ratio and interest coverage ratio. A firm with
lower debt-equity ratio and higher interest coverage ratio is preferred by the
investor.
3) Cash earnings per share is a better indicator than eps as it gives a better idea of the
cash available with a firm for use and also because eps discriminates against growing
companies which have a bigger block of fixed assets.