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Build a stronger understanding of investing by learning the key concepts and metrics used to analyse stocks, how each one is calculated, and what it can and cannot tell you.

Using the app

3
The S&P 500 heatmap
What a stock market heatmap shows, why tile sizes are square-rooted, why the colours rescale with the time window, and what the map cannot tell you.
The earnings and dividends calendar
Why the EPS figure on an earnings calendar is an estimate and never a result, why scheduled dates move, and what an ex-dividend date means.
How to use a stock screener
How to build a screen that returns something useful: which filters interact, why some exclude whole industries silently, and what a screen cannot do.

Filings and disclosures

4
13F filings
How to read 13F filings: the 45-day reporting lag, what the form leaves out including short positions, and what fund holdings can and cannot tell you.
Congressional trading disclosures
What the STOCK Act requires, whether members of Congress can trade stocks, why the amounts are brackets, and what a disclosure does not establish.
Insider transactions and Form 4
Who counts as an insider, why Form 4 is filed within two business days, why selling says less than buying, and what the Insiders panel shows.
Short interest
What short interest measures, how short % of float and days to cover are calculated, why the figures are weeks old, and what a high number does not tell you.

Valuation

5
The price-to-earnings ratio
How the P/E ratio is calculated, how trailing and forward differ, what a high or low multiple implies, and when the number stops being comparable.
Discounted cash flow
What a DCF calculates, why terminal value usually dominates the result, how far the answer moves with the discount rate, and how to run one in reverse.
Market capitalisation
Market cap is share price times shares outstanding. The size bands, share classes, depositary shares, free float, and why heatmap tiles are square-rooted.
EV/EBITDA
Why enterprise value is the right numerator when debt matters, what EBITDA excludes, what the multiple typically runs at, and where it flatters.
Price to book
How the price-to-book ratio works, why it still applies to banks and insurers, why it stopped working elsewhere, and the traps in the per-share figure.

Financial statements

7
Free cash flow
Why free cash flow and net income diverge, what stock-based compensation adds back, and how to read a company that is profitable but consumes cash.
Earnings per share and dilution
What earnings per share measures, how basic and diluted differ, how buybacks raise EPS without the business improving, and the share-class traps.
Return on equity
How ROE is calculated, why borrowing raises it without the business improving, what a strong figure looks like, and how buybacks break the denominator.
Gross margin vs net margin
Gross margin is profit after the direct cost of sales; net margin is profit after every cost, including interest and tax. The formulas, a worked example, and why they diverge.
How to read a balance sheet
What assets, liabilities and equity record, why the statement always balances, what working capital shows, and where book value stops describing a company.
Debt and leverage
How net debt is calculated, what net debt to EBITDA and interest cover measure, why leverage magnifies both directions, and when debt becomes a problem.
Growth rates and CAGR
How a compound annual growth rate is calculated, why it hides the path taken, how the start year decides the answer, and which growth rate is worth reading.

Income

1
Dividend yield
What dividend yield measures, why a rising yield usually means a falling price, how payout ratios show sustainability, and what the ex-dividend date does.

Charts and indicators

4
The relative strength index
How the 14-period RSI is calculated, what overbought and oversold mean, why the indicator saturates in a trend, and what divergence adds.
Moving averages
What the 50 and 200-day moving averages do, why every moving average lags, what a golden cross is, what VWAP measures, and how MACD is built.
How to read a stock chart
What candlesticks show that a line does not, what volume adds, when a log or percentage scale is the right one, and how the timeframe changes the picture.
Fibonacci retracement
Where the 38.2%, 50% and 61.8% levels come from, how the tool is anchored, why the anchor choice decides the levels, and what the evidence supports.