Trading Technique

The Very Basic of Fundamental Analysis

³ Fundamental Analysis

³ The Very Basics

³ Fundamentals: Quantitative and Qualitative

³ Quantitative Meets Qualitative

³ The Concept of Intrinsic Value

³ Criticisms of Fundamental Analysis

³ Business Model

³ Competitive Advantage

³ Management

³ Conference Calls & Management Discussion and Analysis (MD&A)

³ Ownership and Insider Sales & Past Performance

³ Corporate Governance

³ Financial and Information Transparency & Stakeholder Rights & Structure of the Board of Directors

³ Customers & Market Share

³ Industry Growth & Competition

³ Regulation

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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 industry works will give an investor a deeper understanding of a company's financial health.

Customers
Some companies serve only a handful of customers, while others serve millions. In general, it's a red 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. For example, think of a military supplier who has 100% of its sales with the U.S. government. One change in government policy could potentially wipe out all of its sales. For this reason, companies will always disclose in their 10-K if any one customer accounts for a majority of 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 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. Market share is important because of economies of scale. When the firm is bigger than the rest of its rivals, it is in a better position to absorb the high fixed costs of a capital-intensive industry.