I'm not on this board arguing that the quality, performance or function of a company's products don't matter. I think my field matters. Why don't you? Again... Why did you get an accounting degree if you do not think basic accounting metrics are important to the success or failure of a company? I'm saying that being able to read financial statements is basic competency for buying and selling stocks. Like checking to see if a car actually runs before you buy it. You can choose to not even do that basic, simple work and hope that if you bought a worthless car you can find a greater fool who also won't check. I don't consider that a good plan and I would not go around recommending it to people. The world needs more financial literacy, not less.
If you truly believe that Financial Statements are the be all of Stock Trading you should stick to Engineering. I could point you in the right direction but your attitude like your knowledge of Stock Trading is abysmal.
Reading comprehension is apparently not your strong suit. Or maybe honesty is not? As I said, reading financial statements is basic competency. This is very different than saying it's all one needs to know. Miles apart. Attempting to misrepresent one for the other does not make you look good. It's a very funny situation to be arguing the point that maybe accounting is a worthwhile field against the guy who piped up and said "I have an Accounting Degree." If you think accounting doesn't matter, why should we care whether you have a degree in it? Learn more, not less. Encourage others to learn too. "A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly." Robert A. Heinlein
This is you original Post to me "If you cannot read a balance sheet or a cash flow statement, you really have no business buying individual stocks." A truly niave statement for a Stock Trader. But you're obviously a retail Value Investor, so knowledge of successful retail Stock Trading isn't your expertise.
Quotes are greatly Overrated. It's all about snobbery, success, social class, eliteism. A successful person could randomly say.... lollipops are round because that's the shape of planets....and people will be repeating that sentence for centuries. If a delivery driver randomly said something wise and profound... people would just think he has mental illness, or is a weirdo creep
I'll relate an experience. Many years ago in my immature days of trading, I believed fundamentals were what one needed to understand to be a better trader. So I subscribed to downloading fundamental data as a spreadsheet from a reputable vendor, I did this for a few years and it was expensive. But what I discovered was the 'stupid' stocks with zero earning outperformed those with earnings. That was when I switched to a more TA based trading. However the learning curve for TA trading is very long. Mainly because there is a huge amount of nonsense teachings on TA. Once I self realised the discovered the holy grail of markets are controlled not by retail emotions but institutional robots, that's when the light bulb came on. "News" might kickstart a rally, but market robot machines guide what happens after that by pulling the price levers. Fundamental data likewise.
There's a reason Kristian Quallamaggie is the greatest Stock Trader for decades. And it's not Financial Statement Analysis.
It's interesting to watch people argue in favor of being ignorant. You should still have this basic knowledge. As I explained l, it's like trying to buy and sell cars with basic checking to see if the car you're about to buy actually runs. You are just assuming that "oh I'll just sell it to someone else 5 minutes from now." It's literally the assumption that there is always a greater fool out there. Those awful snobs and their <squints and looks around> reading! How dare they! /Sarcasm What a clown you are. Yeah in 2025 showing that you may have actually read a book at some point in your life is somehow trying to flex your status as a member of an elite social group You should be out in the field growing rice to support Mao's great leap forward! I especially like how you think "success" is bad. Those are the people I definitely want financial advice from. You may surprised by I actually find much of this to be reasonable. You gave yourself the background to understand basic value analysis and then added more skills. I'm not claiming basic value analysis is going the let you beat the market. It just helps avoid losing it all. It gives you a warning signal that maybe pets com isn't a good place to put your money.
It's not the data that moves the market. It's how the investors perceive the data. You have to keep in mind that reports are written and audited by accountants who are regulated by accountants who have quite a bit of discretion with GAAP.
not everyone has the ability to learn and gain knowledge but everyone does have the ability to stay ignorant. society will be equal and we will sing songs and grow vegetables.