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Browse Helmbeam articles tagged Research Guides.
Best brokerage research tools for US investors: company research before trading
Your brokerage account may already give you enough information to start researching a company. The useful test is whether you can explain the business, examine the report behind a rating and keep the reasoning you want to revisit after the next result.
Best tools for judging business quality and stock valuation separately
You may like a company's products and see strong reported growth, yet still need to work out what its shares offer at the price you would pay. Begin by understanding how the business earns and funds that growth. Then test the expectations behind the price with clearly stated assumptions.
Ares–MidCap merger: what MFIC shareholders would receive
MFIC's $10.88 merger headline combines cash and Ares Capital shares whose eventual market value can change. The agreement gives each eligible MFIC share $1.21 in cash plus a variable number of ARCC shares. A special dividend would move some of the value into cash before closing and reduce the stock component. To work out what your holding could become, you need the dividend amount, ARCC's net asset value and the share price used in the exchange calculation.
Anthropic's ANT IPO: growth, compute bills and the shares you would own
Anthropic earned $11.555 billion of revenue and a $974 million operating profit in the second quarter of 2026. Customers are spending enough on Claude to cover the current operating cost base. For prospective shareholders, the next question is whether that spending can keep pace with the much larger compute build-out Anthropic has committed to funding.
Why your fund price can fall while NAV rises
Your fund's assets can rise in value while your shares fall in price. In an exchange-traded closed-end fund or investment trust, buyers and sellers can value the shares at a bigger discount to net asset value, or NAV. That widening gap can outweigh the improvement in the assets.
What a missed preference share dividend means for you
An unpaid preferred or preference-share dividend can accumulate for a later payment or lapse for that period. The answer depends on the exact shares you own. Read their cumulative or non-cumulative terms before adding the missing amount to income you expect to receive.
Why VWAP differs from the price you paid
VWAP and your purchase average can differ because they include different trades. Volume-weighted average price, or VWAP, weights the market trading included in its calculation by size. Your purchase average weights only your own fills. Neither number, by itself, tells you what the company is worth.
ETF overlap and your exposure to one company
To estimate how much of one company you hold through equity ETFs, multiply the value of each ETF holding by that company's weight inside the fund. Add any shares you own directly, then divide by the value of the portfolio you are reviewing.
What happens to your shares when a stock is delisted?
If a stock is delisted, it stops trading on that exchange. You can still own the shares, but selling them may become difficult or unavailable through your broker. A takeover, bankruptcy or other corporate action can also change what those shares entitle you to.
Why your stock can fall on its ex-dividend date
On its ex-dividend date, a stock starts trading without the right to the upcoming dividend. If you qualified for that payment, a lower share price tells only part of what happened to your holding.
FFO and AFFO: what do they mean for your REIT shares?
If you own a US property-owning REIT, its earnings report may show a loss alongside positive FFO and AFFO. Those figures adjust how property costs and other items affect reported earnings. To understand your dividend, you also need to follow the cash collected and spent.
EBITDA meaning: what does it tell you about the shares you own?
A company reports rising EBITDA, yet its cash balance barely moves. If you own the shares, you need to understand where that improvement went and what the business still has to pay.