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 1,130 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.
1. Is it growing?
Tenaga's revenue grew from RM53.1B to RM68.8B in 3 years — almost 9%/yr. Profit grew even faster, over 20%/yr. Both count as strong. Also worth a glance: the last 4 quarters vs. the 4 before — yearly numbers can already be a year stale.
80/100 · Strong2. Could it survive a bad year?
A fast-growing business can still get hurt by debt. Tenaga carries RM1.83 of debt for every RM1 of equity, and its current ratio is 0.81 — bills due within a year exceed the cash on hand to pay them. Interest cover (2.5x) is fine, so this isn't urgent — but it's a real weak spot on an otherwise strong company. Banks skip this check entirely — deposits count as "debt" by accounting rule, not by risk.
17/100 · WeakLook up the full score breakdown yourself
3. Is the dividend real?
Tenaga pays a 3.68% yield, paying out 64% of profit — reliable, no missed payouts in 4 years. But free cash flow has been negative for 2 years (heavy grid spending), even though operating cash flow is fine. A dividend can be real today and still be funded by a shrinking cushion.
38/100 · Weak4. Are you overpaying?
P/E 17.35x, P/B 1.67x — unremarkable either way. Adjust for Tenaga's 20%/yr profit growth and PEG comes out to 0.86 — cheap relative to how fast profit is actually growing.
67/100 · Okay5. Fluke, or a pattern?
Profit has been steady for 4 years and share count hasn't been diluted — both Strong. Debt trend is only Okay: total debt has drifted up, not down. Same company, one section up scores Weak on safety and this one scores Strong — that gap is the whole point of 5 separate checks.
80/100 · StrongPutting the 5 together
Averaged, Tenaga lands at 56/100 — Okay. Not an averaging accident: a genuinely strong business sits next to a genuinely stretched balance sheet. That's exactly why 5 separate checks beat 1 combined number.
5 things worth checking before buying any stock
- 1. Growing — revenue and profit rising, over several years, not just one quarter.
- 2. Safe — debt levels, and whether short-term bills are covered.
- 3. Real dividend — paid reliably, backed by real cash, not just a high number.
- 4. Fair price — relative to profit, book value, and growth — not price alone.
- 5. Pattern, not fluke — 4 years of numbers, not 1 good one.
No single check tells the whole story — Tenaga's own scorecard above proves it on one real company.
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 1,130 Bursa-listed companies, free — look up Tenaga Nasional yourself, or browse every company by sector.
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.