What a company's numbers actually tell you.

The P/E ratio divides a company's current share price by its earnings per share, showing how much investors are paying for each rupee of profit the company generates. A P/E of 25 means the market is pricing the stock at 25 times its annual earnings.

A high P/E can mean the market expects strong future growth, or that the stock is simply expensive relative to what it currently earns — the number alone doesn't distinguish between the two. It's most meaningful compared against the company's own historical range and against peers in the same sector, since fair P/E levels vary widely by industry.

Trailing P/E uses the last 12 months of actual earnings; forward P/E uses analyst estimates for the next 12 months. The two can diverge significantly for companies expected to grow or shrink earnings quickly.

EPS is a company's net profit divided by its number of outstanding shares — the portion of total earnings that belongs to each individual share. It's the denominator behind the P/E ratio and one of the most closely watched numbers in a quarterly earnings report.

Diluted EPS accounts for shares that could be created from convertible instruments like employee stock options or convertible bonds, and is generally the more conservative, realistic figure compared to basic EPS.

EPS growth over time — quarter-over-quarter or year-over-year — is often a more useful signal than the absolute EPS number itself, since it shows whether profitability is actually improving rather than just what current profitability happens to be.

ROE measures how efficiently a company generates profit from shareholders' equity: net income divided by shareholders' equity, expressed as a percentage. An ROE of 20% means the company generates ₹20 of profit for every ₹100 of equity invested in it.

ROE is useful for comparing companies within the same sector, since capital intensity varies enormously between industries — a software company and a capital-heavy manufacturer will have structurally different "normal" ROE ranges.

A high ROE driven by heavy debt (leverage) rather than genuine operating efficiency can be a warning sign rather than a strength, since debt increases ROE mechanically without necessarily improving the underlying business — which is why ROE is usually read alongside debt-to-equity, not in isolation.

The debt-to-equity ratio divides a company's total liabilities by shareholders' equity, showing how much of the business is financed by debt versus owner capital. A ratio of 1.0 means debt and equity are roughly equal in the company's capital structure.

Higher leverage amplifies both gains and losses on equity — it can boost ROE in good years but increases financial risk in downturns, since debt payments are fixed obligations regardless of how the business is performing.

Like most fundamental ratios, what counts as a healthy debt-to-equity level varies significantly by industry: capital-intensive sectors like utilities or infrastructure typically run structurally higher ratios than asset-light sectors like software.

Book value is a company's total assets minus total liabilities — roughly what would be left for shareholders if the company were liquidated at its balance-sheet values. Book value per share divides that figure by shares outstanding.

The price-to-book (P/B) ratio compares the current share price to book value per share. A P/B below 1 can suggest a stock is trading below its accounting net worth, though this is common for capital-heavy or distressed businesses and doesn't automatically mean the stock is undervalued.

P/B is most useful for asset-heavy businesses like banks and financial institutions, where the balance sheet is a reasonably direct reflection of the business itself, and less useful for asset-light businesses where most of the value comes from intangibles that don't show up on the balance sheet.

Dividend yield is the annual dividend per share divided by the current share price, expressed as a percentage — the cash return an investor receives relative to what they'd pay for the stock today.

A very high dividend yield isn't automatically attractive: it can result from a falling share price rather than a generous payout, and an unsustainably high yield is often a signal the market expects the dividend to be cut.

Dividend yield needs to be read alongside the payout ratio (what portion of earnings the dividend consumes) — a company paying out nearly all its earnings as dividends has little room left to reinvest in growth or absorb a bad year.

Market capitalization is a company's share price multiplied by its total number of outstanding shares — the total market value of its equity. It's the standard way companies are grouped into large-cap, mid-cap, and small-cap categories.

Market cap size correlates with several practical trading factors: larger-cap stocks tend to have tighter spreads and deeper liquidity, while small-cap stocks can offer higher growth potential alongside higher volatility and wider bid-ask spreads.

Market cap is not the same as a company's enterprise value, which also accounts for debt and cash on the balance sheet — two companies with identical market caps can have very different total valuations once debt is factored in.

Revenue growth measures how fast a company's top-line sales are increasing, typically compared year-over-year (YoY) or quarter-over-quarter (QoQ). Profit growth tracks the same comparison for net income, and the relationship between the two matters: revenue growing faster than profit can signal margin pressure.

Consistent growth across multiple quarters is generally read as a stronger signal than a single strong quarter, which can be driven by one-off factors like an asset sale or a temporary demand spike rather than the underlying business improving.

Growth figures are most meaningful in context — compared against the company's own historical growth rate, against sector peers, and against what the market was already expecting, since a growth number that misses expectations can move a stock even if the absolute growth rate is still positive.