NISM XV is a recognized module which needs to be mandatorily cleared to register as an equity research analyst with BSE. It gives thorough understanding of how to evaluate the stock of a company and make recommendations to the investors. The module covers economy analysis, industry analysis, and company analysis. On economy level, the analyst needs to assess GDP, inflation rate, employment rate and other indicators while on industry level, one needs to evaluate the competitive structure, barriers to entry and exit, suppliers' and customers' bargaining power, and regulatory environment. In an industry, analyst needs to pick the company performing well on the financial parameters such as ROE, ROI, Net Margins, Liquidity, and debt service. He also needs to evaluate the growth rate and other relative ratios such as P/E, D/MP, EV/EBIT, P/B, EV/Sales, PEG besides DCF to arrive at valuation. An analyst can adopt a top-down or bottom-up approach for this exercise.