Robert Elliott identifies five stages of the "value chain" of information, from recording business events to decision-making:

                           Business Event  »    Data    »    Information    »    Knowledge    »    Decisions

                                Stage 1                Stage 2           Stage 3                Stage 4                Stage 5

Value per hour:            $10                    $30                $100                    $300                  $1,000

From left to right, the stages start from the most fundamental to the most significant. A key factor is that technology has made the recording and accumulated business information relatively cheap, including the availability of financial statements and other fundamental information on corporations.  Financial professionals must know Stages 1-3, but the clear focus is on Stages 4-5.

The key to financial analysis is to move as quickly as possible to the higher stages. However, this is built on the knowledge from the early stages. There is no substitute for this fundamental information.