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By Selena Maranjian (TMF Selena)
July 26, 2002

Q. I understand that investors typically evaluate companies based on earnings. But, what if there are no earnings, such as with young upstart companies or firms in temporarily tough times?

A. That's when you should focus on other measures instead. (And, besides, you should always be looking at other measures.) Check out revenues, for example, and revenue growth rates, margins, debt levels, competitive positioning, and brand strength, among many other things. You essentially want to evaluate whether the company is on the path to profitability and how well it's executing its strategy.

Here are some handy articles offering insight into different ways of looking at companies:

• How to Evaluate Management
  
  
• Using ROE and ROA
  
  
• Importance of Enterprise Value
  
  
• Four Great Investing Equations
  
  
• 10 Things to Look for in an Annual Report
  
  
• An Investor's Guide to Conference Calls
  
  
• Calculating Cash Flow Ratios
  
  
• Analyzing Industries
  
  
• The P/E Is Not a Magic Number (Part 1 and Part 2)
  
  
• Rule Maker Metrics (Part 1 and Part 2)
  
  
• The Uselessness of the Price-to-Sales Ratio
  
  
• Four Ways Investors Are Tricked
  
  
• What Is Your Company Hiding?
  
  
• Where Fools Do Their Research

If you'd rather have someone else jump-start your research by pointing you to interesting companies and making a case for them, consider checking out our Motley Fool Select, which will send you several investing ideas each month (and which comes with a money-back guarantee).

To learn to more about brokerages and possibly find a better brokerage for yourself, check out our Discount Broker Center.

If you have any questions, thoughts, or opinions on this topic, share them with others on our Ask the Fool discussion board.

This question and answer is adapted from The Motley Fool Money Guide: Answers to Your Questions About Saving, Spending and Investing. For answers to this and 499 other common money questions, check it out -- it's a handy resource.