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Equity Research Analyst.

1. Financial Markets Fundamentals

What is a stock, what is a bond, equity vs. debt, public vs. private markets, primary vs. secondary markets, exchanges, OTC markets, bid/ask spread, market makers, liquidity, market capitalization, enterprise value, free float, shares outstanding, institutional vs. retail investors, bull vs. bear markets, market cycles, volatility, market indices, S&P 500, Nasdaq, Dow Jones, Russell indices, international indices, ETFs, mutual funds, index funds, REITs.

2. Accounting — Income Statement

Revenue, cost of goods sold, gross profit, gross margin, operating expenses, R&D, SG&A, depreciation & amortization, operating income, EBIT, EBITDA, interest expense, pretax income, taxes, net income, EPS, diluted EPS, basic EPS, stock-based compensation.

2. Accounting — Balance Sheet

Cash & equivalents, accounts receivable, inventory, current assets, PP&E, goodwill, intangible assets, current liabilities, accounts payable, debt, long-term liabilities, shareholders' equity, retained earnings, working capital, net debt.

2. Accounting — Cash Flow Statement

Operating cash flow, investing cash flow, financing cash flow, capital expenditures, free cash flow, changes in working capital, depreciation, stock-based compensation, acquisitions, debt issuance, share repurchases, dividends.

2. Accounting — Concepts

Accrual accounting, cash accounting, revenue recognition, matching principle, deferred revenue, deferred taxes, goodwill, impairments, capitalized vs. expensed costs, lease accounting, noncontrolling interests, one-time items, non-GAAP adjustments.

3. Financial Statement Analysis

Horizontal analysis, vertical analysis, common-size statements, revenue growth, margin expansion, margin compression, operating leverage, financial leverage, working-capital analysis, cash conversion, quality of earnings, earnings adjustments, accounting red flags, revenue concentration, customer concentration, geographic exposure, debt maturity analysis, off-balance-sheet risks.

4. Financial Ratios — Profitability

Gross margin, operating margin, EBITDA margin, net margin, ROE, ROA, ROIC, ROCE.

4. Financial Ratios — Liquidity

Current ratio, quick ratio, cash ratio.

4. Financial Ratios — Leverage

Debt/equity, debt/EBITDA, net debt/EBITDA, interest coverage.

4. Financial Ratios — Efficiency

Asset turnover, inventory turnover, receivables turnover, days sales outstanding, days inventory outstanding, days payable outstanding, cash conversion cycle.

4. Financial Ratios — Valuation

P/E, forward P/E, PEG, EV/EBITDA, EV/EBIT, EV/Sales, P/S, P/B, FCF yield, dividend yield.

5. Corporate Finance

Time value of money, present value, future value, discount rates, cost of debt, cost of equity, WACC, capital structure, debt vs. equity financing, optimal capital structure, capital allocation, capital expenditures, working capital, dividends, share repurchases, retained earnings, M&A, IPOs, secondary offerings, convertible securities.

6. Valuation — DCF

Free cash flow, unlevered FCF, levered FCF, forecast period, terminal value, perpetuity growth method, exit multiple method, discount rate, WACC, present value, enterprise value, equity value, net debt, diluted shares, implied share price, sensitivity analysis.

6. Valuation — Comparable Companies

Peer selection, trading comps, EV/EBITDA, EV/Revenue, P/E, growth-adjusted multiples, median vs. mean, premium/discount analysis.

6. Valuation — Precedent Transactions

Transaction comps, control premium, synergies, acquisition multiples, strategic vs. financial buyers.

6. Valuation — Other Methods

Sum-of-the-parts, dividend discount model, residual income, NAV, LBO valuation, asset-based valuation.

7. Equity Research

Investment thesis, variant perception, catalysts, risks, moats, competitive advantages, TAM, market share, pricing power, unit economics, customer acquisition, retention, recurring revenue, backlog, bookings, guidance, management credibility, insider ownership, insider transactions.

8. Industry Analysis

Industry structure, competitive landscape, market size, TAM/SAM/SOM, market growth, market share, barriers to entry, economies of scale, switching costs, network effects, brand power, supplier power, customer power, substitutes, new entrants, Porter's Five Forces, industry life cycle, secular vs. cyclical growth, regulatory environment.

9. Business Model Analysis

Revenue streams, pricing model, cost structure, fixed vs. variable costs, gross margins, customer acquisition cost, lifetime value, churn, retention, recurring revenue, subscription models, transaction models, marketplace models, licensing, advertising, hardware/software models, vertical integration.

10. Competitive Advantage / Moat Analysis

Brand, network effects, switching costs, cost advantages, scale, intangible assets, patents, distribution advantages, data advantages, regulatory advantages, customer relationships, economies of scale, economies of scope, durability of moat.

11. Management Analysis

CEO evaluation, CFO evaluation, management incentives, executive compensation, insider ownership, insider buying/selling, capital allocation history, communication quality, guidance accuracy, acquisition history, shareholder friendliness, governance, board composition.

12. Macroeconomics

GDP, inflation, CPI, PPI, interest rates, Federal Reserve, monetary policy, fiscal policy, unemployment, consumer spending, housing, credit cycles, yield curve, recession, economic expansion, currency markets, commodities, oil, gold, trade, tariffs, global growth.

13. Fixed Income

Bonds, treasuries, corporate bonds, municipal bonds, high-yield bonds, investment-grade bonds, coupon, yield, yield to maturity, duration, convexity, credit spreads, default risk, interest-rate risk, bond prices vs. yields, yield curve.

14. Portfolio Management

Asset allocation, position sizing, diversification, concentration, correlation, beta, alpha, benchmarking, active vs. passive investing, risk-adjusted returns, rebalancing, portfolio construction, factor exposure, sector exposure, geographic exposure, liquidity management, cash allocation.

15. Risk Management

Market risk, business risk, financial risk, liquidity risk, currency risk, interest-rate risk, regulatory risk, geopolitical risk, operational risk, concentration risk, model risk, tail risk, drawdown, Value at Risk, stress testing, scenario analysis, margin of safety.

16. Quantitative Investing

Mean, median, standard deviation, variance, correlation, covariance, regression, R-squared, statistical significance, probability distributions, Z-scores, Sharpe ratio, Sortino ratio, information ratio, maximum drawdown, beta, alpha, factor models, momentum, value, quality, size, low volatility.

17. Behavioral Finance

Confirmation bias, anchoring, recency bias, loss aversion, herding, overconfidence, availability bias, survivorship bias, hindsight bias, narrative fallacy, disposition effect, FOMO, groupthink — and learning to always ask: what would prove our thesis wrong?

18. Market Psychology

Investor sentiment, risk-on/risk-off, fear vs. greed, market expectations, earnings expectations, re-rating, multiple expansion, multiple contraction, momentum, capitulation, short squeezes, market narratives, catalysts, information asymmetry.

19. Derivatives

Options, calls, puts, strike price, expiration, premium, intrinsic value, time value, implied volatility, historical volatility, delta, gamma, theta, vega, futures, forwards, swaps, hedging.

20. Investment Banking Concepts

IPO, M&A, LBO, DCF, trading comps, transaction comps, accretion/dilution, synergies, enterprise value, equity value, capital structure, debt financing, equity financing, pitch books, CIMs, management presentations.

21. SEC / Primary Research

10-K, 10-Q, 8-K, proxy statement (DEF 14A), Form 4, S-1, earnings releases, earnings calls, investor presentations, annual reports, conference presentations, regulatory filings — and learning to distinguish primary sources from secondary sources from opinions, with primary sources prioritized.

22. Earnings Analysis

Revenue beat/miss, EPS beat/miss, guidance, consensus estimates, earnings revisions, margin changes, segment performance, management commentary, earnings call transcripts, post-earnings price reaction, expectations vs. reality.

23. Financial Modeling

Excel fundamentals, financial statement modeling, revenue forecasting, expense forecasting, margin forecasting, working capital forecasting, CapEx forecasting, debt schedule, depreciation schedule, cash flow forecasting, DCF model, sensitivity tables, scenario analysis, bull/base/bear cases — and, more advanced, three-statement models, M&A models, and LBO models.

24. Investment Writing

Executive summary, investment thesis, company overview, industry analysis, competitive analysis, financial analysis, valuation, catalysts, risks, bull case, base case, bear case, conclusion, sources, investment recommendation.

25. Investment Pitching

Every analyst should eventually stand in front of the Investment Committee and answer: what does the company do? Why is it attractive? What does the market misunderstand? Why now? What is it worth? What is the upside? What could go wrong? What is the catalyst? Why this stock instead of its competitors? What would make you sell?

26. Ethics & Professionalism

Fiduciary responsibility, conflicts of interest, material nonpublic information, insider trading, market manipulation, research integrity, proper sourcing, data integrity, confidentiality, personal trading policies, information barriers, professional communication, responsible social media use.

27. Technology & Data

Excel, Google Sheets, financial databases, SEC EDGAR, market-data platforms, Python basics, SQL basics, data visualization, APIs, Bloomberg-style terminals/concepts, automated financial models, AI-assisted research, prompt engineering, data cleaning, backtesting — and, critically, how to verify AI-generated financial information.

28. Alternative Investments

Private equity, venture capital, hedge funds, real estate, private credit, commodities, infrastructure, distressed debt, special situations, activist investing.

29. Investment Strategies

Value investing, growth investing, GARP, quality investing, momentum, dividend investing, income investing, contrarian investing, deep value, growth at a reasonable price, quantitative investing, factor investing — and the major hedge fund strategies: long/short equity, market neutral, statistical arbitrage, relative value arbitrage, merger arbitrage, convertible arbitrage, event-driven, special situations, activist investing, global macro, and managed futures/CTA.