Bargain opportunities arise with big company stocks from time to time when the stock crashes due to bad news with a temporary effect. Dilution factor - The number of shares itself can be misleading if a company has stock warrants, convertible preferred stocks, or convertible bonds which under current circumstances might be favorable for their owners to convert. For stock picking, focus on the strong financial condition of the underlying company, its earnings stability, dividend record, earnings growth, moderate P/E (< 15), and moderate Price-to-book (< 2.5).