Price tells you what a stock costs today, not whether the business is worth owning.
Before buying any stock, run 5 checks: is it growing, is it safe, is the dividend real, is the price fair, and is it consistent.
Score Your Stock runs the same 5 on all 1,127 Bursa companies. Here's what each one catches, worked through on one real stock: Tenaga Nasional.
Tenaga's 5-check scorecard
Strong growth, strong consistency, but a stretched balance sheet and weak cash flow. One number would have hidden the other.
Tenaga's live score1. Is it growing?
80/100 · StrongTenaga's revenue grew about 9%/yr, profit over 20%/yr. Also glance at the last 4 quarters vs. the 4 before: yearly numbers can be a year stale.
2. Could it survive a bad year?
17/100 · WeakGrowth doesn't protect you from debt. Two of three safety numbers sit in the red zone: not urgent, but a real weak spot on an otherwise strong company. Banks get a different check here: deposits count as "debt" by accounting rule, not by risk, so a bank is judged on its bad loans and capital instead.
3. Is the dividend real?
38/100 · WeakThe payout looks healthy, but heavy grid spending means free cash flow is negative. A dividend can be real today and still be funded by a shrinking cushion.
4. Are you overpaying?
67/100 · OkayP/E and P/B are unremarkable. Adjust for how fast profit is growing and the price looks cheap.
5. Fluke, or a pattern?
80/100 · StrongSame company: Weak on safety, Strong here. That gap is the whole point of 5 separate checks.
Putting the 5 together
A genuinely strong business next to a genuinely stretched balance sheet averages out to Okay. That's exactly why 5 separate checks beat 1 combined number.
5 things worth checking before buying any stock
- GrowingRevenue and profit rising over several years, not one quarter.
- SafeDebt levels, and whether short-term bills are covered.
- Real dividendPaid reliably, backed by real cash, not just a high number.
- Fair priceRelative to profit, book value and growth, not price alone.
- Pattern, not fluke4 years of numbers, not 1 good one.
The stock in this article
Score out of 100:80+ Strong40-79 Okay0-39 Weak
FAQ
There isn't one. Tenaga Nasional's fast profit growth (Business Strength: 80/100) sits right next to a stretched balance sheet (Financial Safety: 17/100), the same company, two opposite answers. Checking only one number hides whichever fact you didn't look at.
No, it's a reason to understand why first. A capital-heavy utility carrying debt to build infrastructure is different from a company borrowing just to stay afloat. A weak score tells you where to look closer, not what to conclude.
Customer deposits count as "debt" under accounting rules, so a bank's balance sheet looks highly leveraged by design, not because it's unhealthy. Bank safety is supervised separately by Bank Negara Malaysia.
Every check uses the same 0-100 scale: 80+ is Strong, 40-79 is Okay, below 40 is Weak, whether it's a growth number, a debt ratio, or the final overall score.
No, a high yield paid from borrowed money or an unsustainable share of profit can get cut. Check reliability over several years, not just today's yield.
Score Your Stock runs these same 5 checks on all 1,127 Bursa-listed companies, free. See Tenaga Nasional's full breakdown, the example this article walked through.
This article is educational content, not investment advice. Always do your own research, or speak to a licensed financial adviser, before investing. See About for more on how this site works.