19 pages carry this tag.
TCS, Infosys and HCLTech sell similar services to similar clients. Put their numbers side by side, though, and their margins, returns on capital and cash conversion tell three different stories.
Asian Paints is one of India's most admired companies. That reputation is earned, but it can stop investors from asking what the price actually requires. This piece reads the numbers on their own.
"The rupee fell" is not one piece of news. For an IT exporter it is a tailwind, for an airline a cost shock, and for a company with dollar loans a balance sheet problem.
Net interest margin is the gap between what a bank earns on loans and what it pays for deposits. Rate changes move the two sides at different speeds, and that timing shapes bank profits.
Airlines earn tens of thousands of crores in revenue and often keep a few percent of it. The gap between revenue and cost per seat-kilometre explains why, and 2026 showed how fast it can close.
Most people start with the share price and the P/E. A better order starts with the business, works through the statements, and looks at the price last.
Revenue growth is the number that makes headlines. Free cash flow is the number that pays investors. The link between them is the return a company earns on what it reinvests.
Profit is an accounting opinion; cash is a fact. This is how a company can be profitable on paper and still unable to pay its bills.
Accounting problems rarely show up as one dramatic number. They show up as small places where the statements stop agreeing with each other. Here are five to check first.
Six large Indian companies from six sectors, five years of results. The numbers show how differently revenue growth and profit growth can behave, and why margins decide which one investors actually get.
Working capital decides how much cash a company must tie up to grow. Ten years of data for five large Indian manufacturers show very different models, and some quiet shifts worth noticing.
"Debt-free" is one of the most reassuring phrases in an investor presentation. Sometimes it signals strength. Sometimes it hides idle cash, disguised borrowing, or a business no lender will touch.
Profit is an opinion, cash is a fact, and one year of cash flow is a snapshot. It takes three years for the snapshot to become a story.
The adjustments analysts make to reported numbers: exceptional items, ESOP costs, leases, forex and one-off write-offs, and the adjusted EBITDA trap.
How to tell whether profit is backed by cash: CFO to PAT, accruals, receivables and DSO trends, the Beneish M-score, and earnings management in India.
The CFO to PAT ratio compares five years of cash flow from operations with five years of reported net profit. It is the simplest anti-fraud check in fundamental analysis.
Free cash flow is operating cash flow minus the cash the business is forced to reinvest to keep running and growing. It is the money that is genuinely surplus.
Cash flow per share is operating cash flow divided by the number of shares. Set next to EPS, it shows how much of each share's reported profit actually arrived as cash.
Work through realistic case studies and identify the warning signs of financial distress and poor earnings quality.
Related topics: Valuation, DCF, Relative valuation, Cost of capital, Financial statements, Cash flow, Red flags, Ratios
