Create Your Own Stock Analysis Spreadsheet

Stock analysis is a crucial piece of work to be completed before purchasing a stock. A stock analysis spreadsheet will help you to quantify a stock's qualities, as well as allow you to compare the stock's attributes with other stocks. A stock analysis spreadsheet is so easy to put together that even a Microsoft Excel novice will be able to create a stock analysis spreadsheet.

In the first two columns of your stock analysis spreadsheet, you will want to enter the stock's name and stock ticker. In the next three columns of your stock analysis spreadsheet, you should outline the stock's price, as well as its 52 week high and low. Next, you should add a column for the percentage that the stock is off of its 52 week high. This information will allow you to see how much the stock price has fluctuated in the previous year (and may help you to determine whether the stock is underpriced).

The next section of your stock analysis spreadsheet should include stock performance parameters. The next parameters to add to the stock analysis spreadsheet are the Price to Earnings (P/E) ratio and Earnings Per Share (EPS). You should also consider the stock's dividend (or yield), long-term debt, and cash per share in your stock analysis spreadsheet. All of these criteria should be used when comparing stocks with one another to determine what your best investment opportunity is.

Finally, you should consider the company's current performance in your stock analysis spreadsheet. The performance criteria that should be added to the stock analysis spreadsheet include gross margin, net margin, Return on Assets (ROA), Return on Equity (ROE), revenue growth, and earnings growth. These stock analysis spreadsheet parameters can be considered on a quarterly or annualized basis.

Once you have researched your stock and determined the values of each of the stock analysis spreadsheet parameters, you will want to use this information to compare stocks. This stock comparison should take into account that the optimum values will vary based upon the stock sector. For example, a growth stock such as Google will have a higher revenue growth value than a value stock such as Procter & Gamble, so it is important to ensure that your stock comparison compares "apples to apples." One method for doing an adequate comparison between stocks in different sectors is to give each stock a rating of 1-10 for each of the criteria, give equal weighting to each of the criteria, and come up with a raw score for each stock based upon the ratings that it received for each of the critieria. If you believe that some criteria such as revenue or earnings growth is more important than other criteria, than the stock comparison can be modified as necessary.