The US Stock Market: What to Look at Before You Put Money In
Price is the loudest thing on the screen and the least useful thing to stare at. A stock at $12 isn't cheap. A stock at $900 isn't expensive. What you're really buying is a slice of a business, and the share price only tells you what strangers agreed to pay this morning. Earnings first, headlines second Companies report earnings four times a year, and that's when the real drama happens. A stock can drop 15% overnight on a result that looked fine to anyone reading casually,