What are the more important factors to look at when deciding on which stock to invest in?

Hi!

I would pay attention to a company's cashflows. I believe that cashflow is king for any company and it is the main driver of value in a company. I will probably focus my attention on a company's cashflow statements, with particular emphasis on the Operating Cashflows.

Operating cashflows measures the cashflow produced by the company's normal operating activities on a regular basis. This includes activities such as selling their products or services, buying inventory, paying their staff, rent and other expenses etc.

An important portion of the Operating Cashflow is the change in working capital that a company has. Basically, a company's cashflow can be affected by changes by some of its working capital policies. For example, most companies can sell on credit terms. This means that they can sell a product or service but the customer paying them only needs to pay cash after a period of time (usually in brackets of 30, 45, 60 and even 90 days). This means that a company can sell a lot of products or service, but the company's cashflow may only be coming in later on. Companies can also buy inventory but pay their suppliers later on too, which can help improve a company's cashflow

Personally, I have seen companies who have face deep trouble because their cashflows have not been managed well, yet have good amount of revenue, because their working capital polices / circumstance isn't strong.

Hi,

To invest in Asia companies, the most important factor is to look at the business and management because investing in Asia can be dangerous if you focus just on numbers as there are many high profile cases where the financials cannot be trusted.