Companies listed on the ASX stock exchange are diverse. Underlying the diversity is a range of business activities and strategic focuses. To granulise this diversity the market has adopted a series of indices based on market capitalisation and liquidity, peers and industry group.

Informed investing necessitates an understanding of a company’s business and strategy as they underlie a company’s share characteristics such as fundamental value, share price performance and volatility.

The Business Description:

• Provides an insight to the company’s business activities, and
• It is a first step in considering whether you like the company

The Strategic Analysis provides:

• A statement of a company’s focus. The effective implementation of which drives the business direction, and
• Meaningfully expressed strategies produce a key insight to a businesses direction.

The Last Financial Year End date:

• Identifies the period end of the most recently published audited financial statements. Companies are required by Australian regulations to publish accounts within 75 days of the end of their reporting period. Accordingly, financials on which analysis is performed may be aged by more than 14 months. Currency of the financial statements may be an investment consideration.

The Indices section covers:

• The market categorises companies into indices. The categories can be broad such as the leading index, to an activity type of sector index and more specific comparison of industry group.
• The “All Ordinaries” is the index that is typically quoted in the media. The “All Ordinaries” comprises the top 500 stocks in the market, accounting for around 95% of total market capitalisation. However, there are many other indices available.
• The categorisations can assist in considering investment alternatives. The categories provide a filter to target specific market segments in an investment strategy.