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Use Ready-Made Fundamental Analysis Applications

Although short-term traders have dozens of technical analysis software programs from which to choose, long-term investors have only a few fundamental analysis applications that help evaluate stock fundamentals.

Fundamental analysis evaluates the underlying performance of companies to find stocks that should do well over the long term. By investing in growing companies that are managed well, compare favorably to the competition, and are selling at a reasonable price, fundamental investors make money as stock price grows along with company earnings. Fundamental analysis programs churn through numbers from company financial statements to present historical performance. Then, it’s up to you to evaluate company history and forecast how the company will do in the future. Some software applications use your estimates and judgment to calculate future prices and potential return. Here’s a review of the contenders.

NAIC Software

The National Association of Investors Corp. (NAIC) is a nonprofit investment education organization that teaches a long-term approach to investing in stocks. Their primary analysis tool, the Stock Selection Guide (SSG), was developed in the 1950s but still works well today. Of course, for decades the SSG was purely a pencil and paper tool, but that all changed in the 1980s as personal computers became popular.

Today, NAIC offers four separate fundamental analysis programs for Windows: NAIC Classic, Investor’s Toolkit, ...