Guides and glossary for equity research

Guide

How to track what hedge funds are buying

Hedge funds disclose their US holdings every quarter in SEC 13F filings. How to read them on EDGAR, track fund buys and sells over time, and follow the institutional money.

Guide

How to organize your equity research

How to keep equity research in one connected place: a notebook per stock, briefs for themes, a board by stage, and a graph that links your notes, tickers, and funds.

Guide

How to take notes on your stock research

How to take investment notes that stay tied to their evidence: a notebook per stock, passages and figures captured from the source with a back-link to where they came from.

Guide

How to track stocks (and what to use)

The best way to track a few stocks you're researching: a watchlist with the columns you choose, a single feed of their news and filings, and an earnings calendar. Built for research, not trading.

Guide

Where to read earnings transcripts and filings in one place

Earnings transcripts and SEC filings start out in different places: EDGAR for filings, each company's IR page for transcripts. How to read them, and how one feed pulls both together for the tickers you track.

Guide

How to value a stock yourself (without Excel)

You don't need a spreadsheet to run a DCF. How to value a stock on your own assumptions in the browser, with Bear, Base, and Bull scenarios and peer comps.

Guide

How to follow a specific investor's portfolio (Buffett, Burry)

Buffett, Burry, and other big managers disclose their US holdings in quarterly 13F filings. How to follow a specific investor's portfolio and see when positions change.

Guide

How to follow a company's news and earnings

How to keep up with a company you own or are studying: its press releases, filings, transcripts, and analyst actions in one feed, plus its earnings date on a calendar.

Guide

How to track insider buying (and what to use)

Executives disclose their own trades on SEC Form 4. How to read insider buying and selling, and how one feed surfaces Form 4 history for the tickers you track.

Guide

Is there a Notion or Obsidian for stock research?

Notion and Obsidian are flexible but general-purpose. What a purpose-built version adds: a notebook per stock and a graph that links notes to tickers, watchlists, and funds.

Guide

What tools do value investors use

Value investors lean on filings and transcripts, thesis notes, their own valuations, and 13F ownership. The tools that fit a fundamental, long-term style, and how they come together.

How-to

How to calculate a stock's intrinsic value (fair value)

Intrinsic value is what a stock is worth based on the business, not its price. How to estimate it with a DCF or comps, and why to insist on a margin of safety.

How-to

How to find a company's largest shareholders

A company's largest institutional shareholders come from 13F filings, which every big money manager files each quarter. How to rank the funds that own a stock and track how that ownership changes.

How-to

How to track an investment thesis over time

How to track a thesis over time: set checkpoints, revisit them each quarter, and let the facts, not the price, tell you when a thesis is broken and it is time to sell.

How-to

How to track analyst ratings and price targets

Track analyst upgrades, downgrades, and price-target changes for the stocks you follow, not the whole market. How to scope rating changes to your watchlist and read them without overweighting them.

How-to

How to capture notes from transcripts and filings

Highlight the passage that matters as you read a transcript or press release, and save it into your notes with a back-link to the source. How to clip insights without losing where they came from.

How-to

How to build a DCF model (step by step)

A DCF values a company as the present value of its future cash flow. The four steps: project free cash flow, pick a discount rate, add a terminal value, and discount it all back to today.

How-to

How to read a 10-K (SEC filing)

A 10-K is the annual report a company files with the SEC. Start with the business and risk factors, then the MD&A, then the financials and notes. Which parts matter most and where to begin.

How-to

How to read an earnings call transcript

Start with the prepared remarks, then read the Q&A in full, where analysts press management on what the numbers hide. How to skim for the takeaways and read guidance closely.

How-to

How to research a stock before you buy

A step-by-step process for researching a stock before you buy: understand the business, read the filings, check the financials, weigh the price, and write down your thesis.

How-to

How to write an investment thesis

How to write an investment thesis: state the claim in one sentence, back it with your strongest facts, add what it is worth, and name what would prove you wrong.

How-to

How to do fundamental analysis on a stock

How to do fundamental analysis: read the three financial statements, track growth, margins, free cash flow, and returns over several years, and judge whether the price makes sense.

Glossary

SEC filings explained (10-K vs 10-Q vs 8-K)

SEC filings are the disclosures public companies file to the SEC, free on EDGAR. The 10-K is annual, the 10-Q quarterly, the 8-K for material events. A quick map.

Glossary

What is a 13F filing (and how to read one)

A 13F is the quarterly SEC filing where large institutions disclose their US stock holdings. What it covers, what it leaves out, and how to read one.

Glossary

DCF explained (discounted cash flow)

A DCF values a company by projecting its future free cash flow and discounting it back to what it is worth today. The answer moves with your growth and discount-rate assumptions.

Glossary

What is enterprise value (EV)

Enterprise value is the takeover price of a whole company: market cap plus debt minus cash. It measures what a buyer truly pays, and anchors multiples like EV/EBITDA.

Glossary

EV/EBITDA explained

EV/EBITDA divides enterprise value by operating earnings to price the whole business, debt included. It compares firms with different debt loads that P/E cannot, which is why it anchors most comps work.

Glossary

What is intrinsic value (fair value)

Intrinsic value is an estimate of what a business is really worth from its fundamentals, separate from its share price. Comparing the two is the core of value investing.

Glossary

What is the P/E ratio

The P/E ratio is share price divided by earnings per share: what investors pay for each dollar of profit. A high or low number only means something in context.

Glossary

What is WACC (the discount rate)

WACC is the blended cost of a company's equity and debt, weighted by each. It is the hurdle rate a business must clear, and the discount rate most DCFs run on.

Glossary

What is a 13D / 13G filing (activist stakes)

A 13D and a 13G are filed after an investor crosses a large stake, above 5%, in a company. A 13D signals activist intent; a 13G is passive. How they differ.

Glossary

What is a superinvestor

A superinvestor is a widely followed manager with a strong long-run record whose 13F holdings people track for ideas. Where the term comes from and how it is used.

Glossary

What is an earnings call transcript

An earnings call transcript is the written record of a company's quarterly earnings call: prepared remarks plus analyst Q&A. What's on it and why investors read it.

Glossary

What is an investment thesis

An investment thesis is your written argument for why a stock will pay off: what the market misses, what must go right, and what would prove you wrong.

Glossary

What is a Form 4 (insider trading)

A Form 4 is the SEC filing where a company insider reports buying or selling their own stock, usually within two business days. What it shows and how to read it.

Glossary

What is free cash flow

Free cash flow is what a company has left after running and growing the business, roughly operating cash flow minus capital spending. It is the cash owners can actually use.

Glossary

What is institutional ownership

Institutional ownership is the slice of a company held by professional investors like funds and pensions, not retail. What the percentage tells you, and what it doesn't.

Glossary

What is a margin of safety

A margin of safety is buying a stock well below your estimate of its intrinsic value, so ordinary errors and bad luck do not sink you. It was Benjamin Graham's core principle.