While buying stocks for delivery we need to consider following factors for any Stock
P/E - Share Price/Earnings per share ( EPS )
P/B - Share Price/Book Value
Open any financial site check about above parameters. If you consider span of 3 years check whther profit, EPS is increasing or not. Also check current market price is how much more than current Book Value of a script.
P/E :
A stock with a high P/E ratio suggests that investors are expecting higher earnings growth in the future compared to the overall market, as investors are paying more for today's earnings in anticipation of future earnings growth. Hence, as a generalization, stocks with this characteristic are considered to be growth stocks. Conversely, a stock with a low P/E ratio suggests that investors have more modest expectations for its future growth compared to the market as a whole.
The growth investors views high P/E ratio stocks as attractive buys and low P/E stocks as flawed, unattractive prospects. Value investors are not inclined to buy growth stocks at what they consider to be overpriced values, preferring instead to buy what they see as underappreciated and undervalued stocks, at a bargain price, which, over time, will hopefully perform well.It's also worthwhile to look at the current P/E ratio for the overall market, industry’s P/E and P/E of competitor companies.
The growth investors views high P/E ratio stocks as attractive buys and low P/E stocks as flawed, unattractive prospects. Value investors are not inclined to buy growth stocks at what they consider to be overpriced values, preferring instead to buy what they see as underappreciated and undervalued stocks, at a bargain price, which, over time, will hopefully perform well.It's also worthwhile to look at the current P/E ratio for the overall market, industry’s P/E and P/E of competitor companies.
By staying away from P/E ratios above 25 (and maybe even 20) you simultaneously cushion any fall and provide more room for profits.
Cheap P/E does not necessarily mean the company is a good buy: poorly run companies can have low price-earnings ratio. P/E is only part of the puzzle for determining a good investment: other factors include return on equity, the company’s forward looking business plan, the company’s trend in market share, etc.
Investors who buy shares in a company with a high price earnings ratio are actually paying more in terms of earnings compared to investors who buy shares in a company with a low price earnings ratio. Knowing this information you might wonder why investors would still opt to buy shares of a company with a high price earnings ratio. The answer is simple. The price factor in the equation is frequently controlled by expectations. If an investor feels confident that a company will make increasing profits in the years to come he will be more likely to be prepared to pay more in order to partake a share of those profits.
It is always good buy for stocks with P/E anywhere between 12-20. Also there will be companies with good year on year growth (Y-O-Y) with less P/E values because market not yet found these valuable stocks
For value investors, P/B remains a valuable method for finding low-priced stocks that the market has neglected. If a company is trading for less than its book value (or has a P/B less than one), it normally tells investors one of two things: either the market believes the asset value is overstated, or the company is earning a very poor (even negative) return on its assets. It is the total value of the company's assets that shareholders would theoretically receive if a company were liquidated. By being compared to the company's market value, the book value can indicate whether a stock is under- or overpriced. To find a company's book value, you need to take the shareholders' equity and exclude all intangible items. This leaves you with the theoretical value of all of the company's tangible assets (those which can be touched, seen, and felt). For this reason, book value is sometimes also called "Net Tangible Assets".
The amount of net tangible assets a company has is particularly important. Since you should always analyze the balance sheet you get directly from the company (as opposed to the ones you find on Yahoo or other financial sites), you may not always have this figure calculated for you. To calculate it, take the total assets and subtract all of the intangible assets such as goodwill. What you are left with is the nuts and bolts of the company; the buildings, computers, telephones, pencils, and office chairs.
Share Price/Book value (P/B):
If the former is true, then investors are well advised to steer clear of the company's shares because there is a chance that asset value will face a downward correction by the market, leaving investors with negative returns. If the latter is true, there is a chance that new management or new business conditions will prompt a turnaround in prospects and give strong positive returns. Even if this doesn't happen, a company trading at less than book value can be broken up for its asset value, earning shareholders a profit.
A company with a very high share price relative to its asset value, on the other hand, is likely to be one that has been earning a very high return on its assets. Any additional good news may already be accounted for in the price.
Best of all, P/B provides a valuable reality check for investors seeking growth at a reasonable price. Large discrepancies between P/B and ROE a key growth indicator, can sometimes send up a red flag on companies. Overvalued growth stocks frequently show a combination of low ROE and high P/B ratios. If a company's ROE is growing, its P/B ratio should be doing the same.
Some times it is not worthy to consider P/B
First of all, the ratio is really only useful when you are looking at capital-intensive businesses or financial businesses with plenty of assets on the books. Book value completely ignores intangible assets like brand name, patents and other intellectual property created by a company. Book value doesn't carry much meaning for service-based firms with few tangible assets. Think of software giant Google, whose bulk asset value is determined by intellectual property rather than physical property; its shares have rarely sold for less than 10 times book value. In other words.
Return On Capital Employed ( ROCE ) :
• A ratio that indicates the efficiency and profitability of a company's capital investments. It is a useful measurement for comparing the relative profitability of companies.ROCE does not consider profit margins (percentage of profit) alone but also considers the amount of capital utilized for those profits to happen. For detailed analysis on it check this link What is Return On Capital Employed ( ROCE ) and what you should derive from it for value picking?
Also consider below points before finalizing the stock
1. Promoters Percentage in Equity: Are Promoters diluting their stake or buying back company shares.
If promoters loose confident on their company they dilute their percentage similarly if promoters think company going to give good year on year results they increase stake. Also some companies give dividend frequently if promoters stake is more because majority of dividend will go back to promoters.
2. Debt to Equity Ratio: For any company having debt is most common, but the debt should be in control. Debt to Equity ratio from 0 to 1.5 is considerable and manageable debt for any company.Now a days even though order book is good, companies not able to delivery good results because most of their profit is going towards interest on Debts
3. Reserves: This is the company reserve cash and can be used to for their future expansion plans
4. FII holding: If FII holdings are more in stock it will lead to many fluctuations and global environment conditions effect will be more on that particular stock
