How quarterly earnings season works, why stocks gap on results and guidance, how options price expected moves, what post-earnings drift is and how traders manage risk through reporting periods.
How ETFs work and why they are tax efficient, what research says about the odds of picking winning stocks, the advantages of each approach and how investors combine them.
How forward and reverse stock splits work, why companies split their shares, how buybacks change earnings per share and ownership, the rules and taxes that apply and how investors should judge them.
How blue-chip stocks and penny stocks differ in size, liquidity, disclosure and risk, why penny stocks attract fraud, and how to set realistic return expectations for each.
What the price-to-earnings ratio measures, trailing versus forward P/E, the PEG ratio and Shiller CAPE, how to compare P/Es properly and the cases where the ratio misleads.
How dividends work, the dates and ratios that matter, how dividend growth and reinvestment compound income, the tax basics and the traps that catch yield-chasing investors.
How value and growth stocks differ, what research says about the value premium, why each style has had long winning and losing streaks, and how investors balance the two.
Stocks5 min readBy Marcus Thorne, Senior Equity Strategist