66 free lessons in 6 levels. Each lesson teaches one specific skill — read a P/E, decode a balance sheet, run a DCF — with an interactive quiz and a live example using a real ticker.
What market capitalization is, how to calculate it from Coca-Cola's share price and shares outstanding, and why a stock's price tells you nothing about the size of the company.
What the P/E ratio is, how to calculate it from Coca-Cola's share price and earnings per share, and how to use it to tell whether a stock is cheap or expensive.
What to check on a company's balance sheet in five minutes: net debt, cash, liquidity, intangibles and shareholders' equity, with Coca-Cola as the worked example.
What dividends are, how to calculate dividend yield and the payout ratio from Coca-Cola's numbers, and why a very high yield is usually a warning sign.
What the balance sheet, the income statement and the cash flow statement each tell you, how they fit together and how to read them side by side, with Home Depot as the worked example.
How to read an income statement from revenue down to net income, with Nike as the example: why a 10% drop in sales cost it 41% of its operating income.
What gross, operating and net margins measure, how to calculate them from the income statement, and why Costco and Microsoft both make money with opposite margins.
What EBITDA is, how to calculate it step by step using Union Pacific, what it's good for (debt and EV/EBITDA) and why Buffett and Munger distrust it.
Ray Dalio's model for investors: credit, the short-term and long-term debt cycles, deleveraging, and what to watch in the companies you own at each stage of the cycle.
What ROE measures, how to calculate it from Coca-Cola's accounts, what counts as a good figure in each sector, and why a 150% ROE isn't what it looks like.
What the PEG ratio is, how to calculate it from the P/E and earnings growth of Alphabet and Costco, and how Peter Lynch's method interprets it.
What free cash flow is, how to calculate it from the cash flow statement, and why Microsoft turned only half of its 2026 profit into cash.
How to calculate the debt-to-equity ratio (D/E), what level is reasonable in each sector and why buybacks can make it misleading, with Duke Energy, Coca-Cola and McDonald's.
What the current ratio is, how to calculate it from Coca-Cola's balance sheet, and why Walmart lives below 1 while Boeing, above it, had to raise money.
What net debt is, how to calculate it step by step from Duke Energy's balance sheet, and how many times EBITDA each sector can carry under Kaplio's sector guide.
What ROA measures, how to calculate it step by step with JPMorgan, and why 1% is a good number for a bank and a poor one for a tech company.
What EBITDA margin is, how to calculate it from Verizon's accounts, what margin Kaplio expects from telecom and media companies, and how "adjusted EBITDA" can fool you.
What the asset turnover ratio tells you, how to calculate it from Costco's accounts, and why a drugmaker that turns its assets seven times more slowly can earn more on every dollar invested.
What days sales outstanding (DSO) is, how to calculate it from Microsoft's accounts, and why Under Armour's climbed from 33 to 47 days before the SEC took action against it.
The Graham formula, V = EPS × (8.5 + 2g) × 4.4 / Y, step by step with Coca-Cola, how Kaplio applies it, and why it blows up with Microsoft and Caterpillar.
What intrinsic value is, how to calculate it step by step with a five-year DCF plus terminal value, and why one point on the discount rate changes the answer, using Procter & Gamble.
What enterprise value (EV) is, how to calculate it step by step with AT&T, and why EV/EBIT exposes the debt that the P/E ratio can't see.
What ROIC measures, how to calculate it step by step with Visa, and which thresholds separate the companies that create value from the ones that destroy it.
What diversification is, why correlation matters more than the number of stocks you own, and how many you need according to Graham and the research, with data from 2021-2025.
What non-operating income and expenses are, how to separate them from what the business earns, and why they can inflate net income and make the P/E look cheaper, with Alphabet, Verizon and Berkshire H
What earnings before taxes (EBT, or pre-tax income) is, how it differs from EBIT and from net income, and why the effective tax rate varies so much from one company to another, with AbbVie, Merck, Pfi
Case study: a step-by-step fundamental analysis of Tesla using its 2025 10-K: growth, margins, regulatory credits, cash flow, net cash and a P/E of more than 400.
What research and development spending is, how to measure it against revenue, why the accounting treats it as an expense, and how to tell whether it's creating value.
What selling, general and administrative expenses (SG&A) include, how to measure them against revenue and gross profit, what operating leverage is, and when cutting them destroys value.
How to measure sales and marketing expense against revenue, how much new revenue each dollar spent brings in, and when heavy sales spending is an investment and when it's simply buying growth.
What interest coverage measures (EBIT divided by interest expense), which thresholds Kaplio uses, how floating rates and debt maturities affect it, and why acceptable coverage guarantees nothing.
Understand how taxes impact actual net profit
Short-term debts and immediate obligations
When you charge before delivering the service
Private equity's favorite valuation multiple
Growth-adjusted P/E - the Peter Lynch metric
Apply all Level 4 metrics to a real case
The most cited metric on Wall Street
How stock options and issues dilute your stake
Cash invested in short-term liquid instruments
Money that customers owe to the company
Understand inventory and its implications
The most controversial "invisible" assets on the balance sheet
Strategic investments in other companies
Future tax benefits for past losses
How to calculate a DCF's terminal value with the Gordon growth formula and with an exit multiple, with WACC explained and a full valuation of Visa built from its 10-K for fiscal 2025.
What an economic moat is, its five sources and how to measure it with ROIC and margins, with a full analysis of Moody's and the moat Intel lost.
How to analyze a company's financial statements in five steps, using Microsoft's fiscal 2026 10-K, the red flags at Kraft Heinz and a scorecard that works on any annual report.
What the business cycle is, its four phases with the official US recession dates, how it hits a cyclical company like Caterpillar, and why a low P/E at the top of the cycle is a trap.
Use options to generate income and protect portfolio
The most conservative measure of liquidity
The most important decision: retain or distribute benefits
Unrealized gains and losses that affect equity
Long-term obligations and deferred tax liabilities
Long-term assets: PPE, investments, intangibles
How to compare companies within the same sector
Learn to project future financial statements
Apply ALL Levels 1-5 metrics in the most complete case
Measures what percentage of assets are financed with debt
How many times the company can cover its interest payments
The favorite profitability metric of sophisticated investors
How many times a year a company sells and replaces inventory
How quickly you convert credit sales into cash
How many days does inventory remain before being sold?
How long does it take the company to convert inventory into cash?
Includes shareholders' equity on the balance sheet
The price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio divides a company's share price by its earnings per share. It tells you how many dollars investors pay for each dollar of annual profit. A high P/E signals growth expectations; a low P/E can mean value or trouble. Always compare against the same sector.
Market capitalization is a company's total value: share price multiplied by the number of shares outstanding. It classifies companies by size — mega, large, mid, small and micro cap — and lets you compare firms objectively, regardless of the price of a single share.
Return on equity measures how much profit a company generates from shareholders' money. You divide net income by shareholders' equity. A sustained ROE above roughly 15% often signals a quality business, but heavy debt can inflate the figure, so read it alongside leverage.
Dividend yield is the annual dividend per share divided by the share price, shown as a percentage. It estimates the cash income you receive relative to what you pay. A very high yield can be a warning sign that the market expects the dividend to be cut.
Value investing means buying shares for less than their estimated intrinsic worth, then waiting for the market to close the gap. Popularized by Benjamin Graham and Warren Buffett, it favours durable businesses, a margin of safety and patience over chasing short-term price momentum.
Yes. All 66 lessons across the six levels are free to read, with an interactive quiz and a live example on a real ticker in each one. No account is required to browse the lessons, and the content is educational — not personalized investment advice.
No prior experience is required. The academy starts at a beginner level — what a share is, how to read a price — and builds gradually to advanced valuation such as discounted cash flow. Each lesson teaches one specific skill you can apply to a real company right away.