I’ve been asked to write about this topic, and whilst I think there isn’t much difference in terms of quantitatively analyzing the companies, there are certainly differences that one must consider when trying to invest in US listed companies.

Of course, the differences are also very much dependent on the specific type of company itself. The points below refer to the overall market and of course, involve a lot of generalizations. Here goes:

Complexity – US listed companies tend to have much more complex financials to consider. It is a norm for US listed companies to have debt on their balance sheets, with many different levels of seniority of debt with different maturities.

There is also a much higher level of complex corporate actions such as using equity for mergers and acquisitions (M&A), equity for debt swaps, preferred shares, mezzanine debt ...