Stock Selection in Context of Ratio Analysis from Perspectives of Valuation, Growth, Profitability and Payout

Abstract

Stock selection has always been a heated topic in both daily discussion and academic research. There were already plenty of researches that provided deep insights into the catalysts of stock performances, e.g., CAPM and Fama-French Three Factor Model. Among previous literatures, four dimensions that can best predict the return of stocks are identified, i.e., valuation, growth, profitability and payout, respectively. This paper intends to analyze stocks performances in the US stock market from 2016 to 2021 based on these four perspectives and provide an ideal investment target to concerned investors. In order to quantify the selection process, two indicators that most closely related to the return of stocks are selected for each dimension to measure the performance of stock. An ideal investment target is also presented in section 3 of this paper together with its financial highlights and competition analysis. Finally, the limitations of this methodology and the risk factors in the contemporary capital market are also outlined. Overall, these results offer a guideline for ratio analysis approach of stock selection.