The Analyzer is the part of Finapolis where a ticker stops being a price and becomes a verdict. Open one and you do not land on a blank tab waiting for you to start digging. You land on a grade, a fair-value target, and the metric snapshot that produced both.
This guide covers what the Score Card measures, how its three dimensions roll into one overall grade, what sits behind every metric on the Overview tab, and the place where the grade stops and valuation begins.
The worked example is First Solar as the platform read it on June 3, 2026 — the same snapshot behind our First Solar commentary, so the two pieces agree line for line. Live numbers move through the day. The structure does not.
The Analyzer in 30 seconds
- Three graded dimensions — Fundamental, Technical and Health — roll up into one overall grade of A, B, C or D.
- Health is a gate, not an average. A Fail caps the overall grade at D however strong the rest of the picture looks.
- The grade and the valuation are separate models. The target price and the DCF can disagree, and often do.
- Every metric opens to show its formula and the filing line items behind it. Nothing is a number you simply have to trust.
- Grades are dated snapshots and inputs to your own analysis, never instructions.
The Score Card, in one screen
The Score Card sits at the top left of the Overview tab, with the historical price chart and its OHLCV summary beside it. Its top module is the overall grade, placed on a four-segment A-B-C-D band so you can see where the name falls in the range rather than reading a letter in isolation. Under that sit the three graded dimensions.
| Dimension | What it reads | Vocabulary |
|---|---|---|
| Fundamental | Valuation · Profitability · Growth | A to D |
| Technical | Momentum · Volatility · Relative Strength | A to D |
| Health | Liquidity · Solvency · Debt Coverage | Pass or Fail |
The overall grade carries a plain-language label beside the letter, so a C reads as what it is rather than as a school report:
- A — Strong
- B — Good
- C — Fair
- D — Weak
The up and down arrows on the three dimensions are quarter-over-quarter changes in the grade itself, not moves in the price. An arrow tells you the direction of travel over a quarter; no arrow means that dimension held its grade.
How three grades become one
The rollup is deliberately simple, and worth knowing because it explains results that look wrong at first glance.
Health is a gate. A Health check of Fail sets the overall grade to D outright. It does not get averaged against anything, because a company that cannot cover its obligations is not a C whatever its margins look like.
With Health passing, the overall grade is the average of Fundamental and Technical. Ties land on the even grade, which is why some pairings resolve up and others down.
| Fundamental + Technical | Overall grade |
|---|---|
| A and A | A |
| A and B | A |
| A and C | B |
| A and D | C |
| B and B | B |
| B and C | C |
| B and D | C |
| C and C | C |
| C and D | C |
| D and D | D |
Two consequences fall out of that table. The first is that with Health passing, a D on the overall line is hard to reach: it takes a D on both components. A single D — a strong business on a broken chart, or a weak business in a hot tape — lands at C.
The second is that momentum carries the same weight as the business. That is intentional. The Score Card is a read on the stock, not only on the company, and it is the main reason a genuinely good business can grade Fair.
A worked example: First Solar
On June 3, 2026, Finapolis graded First Solar Fundamental B, Health PASS and Technical D, for an overall Score Card of C (Fair). Read the letters alone and that looks like a muddle. Read what each one measures and it is a precise description.
- Fundamental B — the business. A P/E of 17.4, P/B of 2.93, P/S of 5.55, EV/EBITDA of 12.5, EV/Sales of 5.17, a free-cash-flow yield of 4.1% and ROIC at 16.2%. Not extreme for a profitable, growing industrial.
- Health PASS — the balance sheet. Debt to equity of 0.05, a current ratio of 2.67, a quick ratio of 2.24 and interest coverage of 36.8 times. A company that funds itself and is not one bad quarter from a financing problem.
- Technical D — the chart. A 14-day RSI of 82.9 after the stock more than doubled off its low. A price that has run hard and fast.
B and D average to C, and C is the honest answer. A good business and a stretched chart can be the same ticker on the same day; those two facts are not in conflict, they are the whole story. The Score Card does not resolve the tension for you. It shows you that the tension exists, and points at which dimension is causing it.
A grade is a compression of the evidence, not a substitute for it. Its job is to tell you where to look next.
Danaher on the same date is the mirror image of the same mechanism: Fundamental B, Health PASS, Technical C, overall C — a strong business, a weak chart, a price that had gone nowhere good for a year. We wrote that one up in full in the Danaher valuation piece.
What sits behind every metric
Below the Score Card, the Overview tab carries the Key Metrics Snapshot — the numbers the Fundamental and Health grades are built from, grouped so you can read one dimension at a time.
| Group | Metrics |
|---|---|
| Valuation | P/E, P/B, P/S, EV/EBITDA, EV/Sales, Dividend Yield, FCF Yield |
| Profitability | Gross Margin, Operating Margin, EBITDA Margin, Net Margin |
| Returns | ROE, ROA, ROIC |
| Leverage & Efficiency | Debt / Equity, Current Ratio, Quick Ratio, Asset Turnover, Interest Coverage |
| Growth | Revenue YoY, EPS YoY, Revenue QoQ, EPS QoQ |
Two things make the snapshot more than a table of numbers. Click the arrow next to any metric and it opens to show how Finapolis computes it and which filing line items feed it — the difference between a number you read and a number you can check. Select a metric and the chart beside the snapshot switches to that metric's own history over 1, 3, 5 or 10 years.
That history view is where First Solar's story got genuinely interesting. Its P/E of 17.4 sits slightly below its own 5-year median of 19.4 — so on that lens the multiple is in the lower half of its historical range, not at an extreme, which sits oddly next to a Technical grade of D. You would never see that from the grade alone.
Our methodology page documents the ingestion, validation and attribution chain behind these figures end to end.
Where the grade stops and the valuation starts
The Analyzer publishes two valuation outputs, and they are separate models on purpose. Conflating them is the most common way to misread the screen.
- The target price. A dated model output shown with a pill and the gap to the current price. For First Solar on June 3: a target of $300.53 with a HOLD pill, 5.6% below the close of $318.25.
- The DCF, on the Valuation tab. Running the 5Y scenario returned an implied fair value of $220.98 per share at a WACC of 9.15% — roughly 31% below the price.
Same company, same day, two Finapolis lenses, two different answers. Danaher showed the same split more sharply still: a target price of $113.95 against a price of $178.08, about 36% below, on a stock already near a 52-week low.
When the two disagree, that is information rather than a defect. They are built from different inputs, so the disagreement localises the argument: it tells you the question is about discount rates and terminal assumptions rather than about whether the company is any good. The grade already answered that.
The Valuation tab is yours to argue with
A DCF you cannot change is a black box. The Valuation tab opens the model up: pick a scenario, then edit the drivers and watch the value per share move.
- Seven scenarios — 5Y, Flat, Regression, 5Y Avg/Perpetuity, Custom Period, Best Period and Worst Period.
- Two terminal-value methods — Terminal Multiple or Terminal Growth.
- Editable drivers, each as a percentage of revenue: revenue growth, cost of revenue, SG&A, R&D, other operating expense, D&A, capital expenditure and the change in net working capital.
- The full model, visible — every projected year from revenue down through EBIT, NOPAT, EBITDA, free cash flow, the discount rate and the discounted FCF.
- Saved scenarios, so an assumption set you have argued yourself into is still there next quarter.
If you want the method rather than the interface — what a DCF computes, where it is fragile, and how the two terminal-value calculations differ — that is its own article: discounted cash flow valuation, with a worked Philip Morris example.
The fastest way to learn what a valuation actually rests on is to move a single driver and watch the value per share respond. The input that swings the answer hardest is the one your thesis has to be right about.
The six tabs, and what each is for
| Tab | What you go there for |
|---|---|
| Overview | The Score Card, the price history and the Key Metrics Snapshot |
| Valuation | The DCF — scenarios, editable drivers, terminal value |
| Statements | Income statement, balance sheet and cash flow statement, annual or quarterly |
| Peers | The same metric set against comparable companies, plus peer price and correlation views |
| Reporter | The sourced research report, where the name is covered |
| Filings | 10-K, 10-Q and 8-K filings from SEC EDGAR |
Where the Analyzer sits in the workflow
The Analyzer is the second stop of five, and it is the one that turns a list into a decision.
- [Screener](/posts/how-to-use-finapolis-screener) narrows 5,957 US-listed stocks to a shortlist worth your attention.
- Analyzer grades each name, values it, and shows you the evidence.
- [Reporter](/posts/how-to-use-finapolis-reporter) writes the reasoning up as a sourced report, with every claim traceable to a filing. Coverage is 500+ names; where a name is not yet covered, the Analyzer's other tabs still load with the same depth.
- [Trader](/posts/how-to-use-finapolis-trader) turns the thesis and a target price into a structured options position with defined risk.
- Portfolio tracks the outcome, benchmarks it, and surfaces tax-loss harvesting opportunities.
Nothing gets retyped between those stops. That continuity is the point: the grade you read on the Analyzer is the same grade that shows up in the Holdings table once you own the name.
FAQ
What do the Analyzer grades measure?
Three dimensions. Fundamental reads valuation, profitability and growth. Technical reads momentum, volatility and relative strength. Health reads liquidity, solvency and debt coverage. The first two are graded A to D; Health returns Pass or Fail.
How is the overall grade calculated?
A Health check of Fail sets the overall grade to D outright. Otherwise the overall grade is the average of the Fundamental and Technical grades, with ties resolving to the even grade — so an A and a B give an A, while a B and a C give a C. The table above lists every pairing.
Why does a good company grade C?
Because Technical carries the same weight as Fundamental. A strong business whose chart has run hard — First Solar at a 14-day RSI of 82.9 — averages a B and a D into a C. That is the Score Card telling you the business and the entry point are two different questions.
Why do the target price and the DCF disagree?
They are separate models with different inputs. For First Solar on June 3, 2026 the target price was $300.53 while the 5Y DCF returned $220.98 at a 9.15% WACC. A gap between them is normal and useful: it narrows the argument to the assumptions the two treat differently rather than to whether the company is any good.
How current are the grades?
Prices and metrics update through the day; the grades carry a quarter-over-quarter trend arrow, so the arrow reflects a quarterly change while the numbers beneath it are live. Every figure in this guide is dated because a grade without a date is not worth much.
Can I change the DCF assumptions?
Yes — that is what the Valuation tab is for. Pick one of seven scenarios, choose Terminal Multiple or Terminal Growth, then edit revenue growth and each cost line as a percentage of revenue. Scenarios can be saved and reloaded.
How many stocks does the Analyzer cover?
About 6,000 US-listed names, the same universe the Screener filters. Reporter coverage is narrower — 500+ names and growing — but the Overview, Valuation, Statements, Peers and Filings tabs load for the full universe.
Is a grade a buy signal?
No. Grades, DCF outputs and target prices are there to inform your decision, not to make it. What you see on screen is a snapshot from that moment under stated assumptions. Finapolis is a research platform, not a registered investment advisor, a broker-dealer or a signal service.
