fundamental analysis investment & finance definition

The practice of valuing companies by looking at revenues and earnings and then analyzing the company’s management and the prospect for its products or services to be successful. Fundamental analysis also can be used to look at entire industries or commodities markets. Fundamental analysis of a company or commodity is in contrast to technical analysis, which looks only at price charts to form an opinion about the company’s or market’s direction. As applied to the economy, fundamental research involves analyzing economic statistics, such as unemployment.