Fundamental Analysis

Learn how to identify zombie companies with key indicators like poor cash flow, problematic debt, and stagnant sales. Protect your investments with these tips.

During a major economic event, it may be a good time to revisit your portfolio. It could mean rethinking long-term objectives, reexamining your risk tolerance, or taking a moment to self-reflect.

What is a reverse stock split? Reverse stock splits are when a company reduces the number of its outstanding shares. Here's what investors should keep in mind.

Mutual funds and exchange-traded funds incur expenses, which can be passed on to the fund’s investors. The expense ratio, expressed as a percentage, represents the annual fee a fund charges its investors or shareholders.

The Fed provides a quarterly “dot plot” with its monetary policy projections for the next several years that can help investors glean the Fed’s thinking about the future.

When your broker or financial advisor recommends that you read an investment or fund prospectus, it’s for a good reason. A prospectus can offer clues to help you assess an investment’s risks.

The price-to-earnings ratio has its critics, yet it remains a metric worth watching for valuing stocks and making investment decisions. Learn more in this article.

There are different ways to value a stock. These five stock and financial ratios are fundamental to accessing a stock's general value.

The industrial and precious metals market is a key component for investing, trading, and understanding the market. Learn how this market may affect economic growth and sentiment.

Housing market data and indicators, like existing home sales, can impact stock and bond prices. Investors and traders should know when reports are released.

Stock splits have increased as the U.S. market extended its bull run, but the actual benefits for investors are questionable.

Explore the importance of value investing in a volatile market and learn how to build a durable portfolio to help you weather the storm.

Learning how to trade stocks can seem complex. TD Ameritrade helps simplify the hoops that traders and investors need to jump through to get the trading education they need.

Learn the fundamentals, strategies, and signals of cyclical stocks and how the outlook may be different in the wake of the pandemic.

A company’s board of directors is responsible for providing sound guidance and a fiduciary responsibility to shareholders. Investors should learn the important basics.

Learn how candlestick chart patterns can help you decide strategy, options strike prices, and expirations. We came up with three ideas for you to consider.

Learn how following short interest and other short-selling metrics can help investors gain valuable insights into companies and markets.

A commodity “supercycle” can last for years and lift commodity prices across industries. Is one brewing as we emerge from COVID-19, and what does it mean for investors?

Gross domestic product (GDP) data is one key to understanding U.S. economic health. It’s a closely watched number that can affect fiscal and monetary policy as well as corporate planning and strategy.

New to investing, or been at it awhile but never ventured past the buy/sell buttons? Start with understanding how to read stock quotes and other summary information.

Short selling, short interest, naked short selling are among terms some investors had scarcely paid attention to. But a flurry of apparent short squeezes in 2021 called attention to shorting. Here are some of the top questions answered.

Public companies are required to periodically disclose the state of their business in forms such as the 10-K and 10-Q. These forms can help investors make more informed decisions.

If you follow business news, you’ve likely heard reports of companies buying back their shares. What’s that all about? And is it good or bad for the company? Here are a few stock buyback basics.

What do analyst ratings such as buy, sell, hold, and everything in between mean? The TipRanks Smart Score tool may provide additional insight and help you identify stocks that align with your investment goals and risk tolerance levels.

When investing in IPOs, your time horizon should match your objective. Learn why momentum investing and long-term investing are two distinctly different animals.

Fundamentals and investor sentiment are two key drivers of the stock market. It’s important to understand how the market responds to both these factors, but also how fundamentals like price/earnings ratios and earnings per share eventually validate stock prices.

Interpreting reports on industrial production and capacity utilization can help traders and investors identify the state of the economic business cycle.

Use thinkorswim to analyze exchange-traded funds, find stocks that are trading above a 200-, 100-, or 50-day simple moving average, and look up stock symbols quickly.

When a company withdraws guidance, it used to mean bad news was coming. That was before the coronavirus pandemic stopped the economic expansion in its tracks. Now, executives are withdrawing forward-looking statements with less stigma amid the widespread uncertainty.

Trying to decide which stocks or ETFs to trade? First, create a plan. Screen for stocks that meet criteria in line with your personal financial goals. Then monitor those stocks and set up alerts to help determine when to enter and exit trades.

Consider using company cash flow data as you survey stock investments. It’s a basic, fundamental measure of potential earnings and dividend growth.

The housing market has historically been a bellwether of the stock market and of the economy in general. Learn about housing starts, building permits, and other indicators that can help investors assess the state of the housing market.

When considering investments, many investors concentrate on the things that make a stock a good candidate. But what about the potential danger signs?

When markets sell off, sometimes quality names with solid fundamentals get placed in the bargain bin along with everything else. When that happens, make sure you have your wish list in place.

Investing is a lot like building a fantasy sports team: You assess your game plan, do your research, and make changes as needed. And if you’d like to practice in a “fantasy” stock market, consider the paperMoney® trade simulator by TD Ameritrade.

The monthly U.S. Employment Situation report—commonly called the jobs report—is perhaps the most closely watched fundamental indicator for traders and investors. Here’s why.

The fortunes of shipping, rail, and trucking companies could indicate where the global and domestic economies might be headed.

Tariffs have been part of American economic history from the country’s origins. Are tariffs good or bad for investors?

Traders don't look at balance sheets and income statements, right? Not so fast. Fundamental analysis might be able to tell you something your charts can't.

Investing results may depend to some extent on luck, but research and science play a larger role in portfolio strategy.

Fake news and misinformation about a company can negatively impact share prices, and even if it’s a temporary price move, investors can get caught flat-footed. Here’s how you can help protect yourself and your portfolio.

How might falling interest rates affect mortgage rates, and what does it all mean for homeowners looking at refinancing?

FAANG stocks and other big-name flyers were, not too long ago, start-ups with no clear path to sustained profitability. If you’re looking for the next potential disruptors, how might you go about assessing candidates? You might want to go beyond traditional fundamental analysis.

Explore options statistics on thinkorswim—implied & historical vol and percentiles, the Sizzle Index, and the put/call ratio. Learn how options stats can help traders and investors make more informed decisions.

thinkorswim has developed an interface dedicated to researching the effects that earnings announcements have on the prices of stocks and options.

With the earnings calendar tools available on the TD Ameritrade thinkorswim Platform, you can be in the know when it comes to the earnings season.

There are many ways to hedge your portfolio, but should you?

Fundamentals research is a core strategy for many traders and the thinkorswim platform makes it easy for traders to browse research in a time-efficient manner

Use the stocks profile page to read a company’s profile and see charts, earnings, fundamentals, valuations, and more to help you research securities.

Search for investment ideas by using the TD Ameritrade Sectors & Industries tool to pinpoint a trade idea or a stock for your portfolio.

The Company Profile tool uncovers what drives a company's value, tests different scenarios, and helps make trading decisions.

Long-term investors may be tempted to gloss over the minutiae, but the small print can often tell a company’s story. Learn some of the terms to know and why.

Feeling confused by pages of tiny numbers in a company’s earnings report? Here are three metrics investors can easily find in quarterly data.

The price-to-earnings ratio (P/E) is one popular way to measure a stock’s value, but there are other tools that can be more helpful and sometimes more reveali

Explore the methodology and mechanics of trades anchored around a core position. This approach allows a short-term and long-term view of the same stock.

Investors might rethink risk and consider picking less popular stocks for better long-run historical performance.

Fundamental analysis for momentum traders is easier with the new Fundamentals page for thinkorswim®.

Investors looking for well-priced, quality stocks might borrow a page from Warren Buffett and Benjamin Graham, but only with the help of a stock screener.