Guide

The company sharing its profit with you — and the truth that it isn't free money.

Declaration, ex-dividend, record and payment: the last day you can buy to get the dividend, and why that day isn't an opportunity.

The book opens once a quarter — and the market really only reads three lines.

The report a company signs and files with the SEC says what the press release doesn't; which five of the hundred pages matter.

Why a company posting record profit drops 9% — expectations, the gap, and guidance.

The numbers are in the release; what management thinks of them, and what it avoids saying, is on the call.

Profit is an opinion, cash is a fact — and the gap between them is the earliest warning sign in the statements.

You can't tell whether a stock is cheap or expensive by looking at its price.

A company's real size is not the share price — it's the price times the share count.

A company buying its own stock — growing your slice without growing the pie.

Executives' trades in their own company's stock are public; why sales say much less than purchases.