Business Drivers

What moves this company's earnings, and by how much.

Disclaimer: Research and educational output only. Not financial advice.

The rule that defines this skill

Understand the business first. Only then go looking for data.

Not a style preference — a correctness requirement. A skill that starts from a list of candidate drivers returns "oil, FX, interest rates" for every company on earth, which is both true and useless. The drivers that matter are the ones implied by this company's cost and revenue structure, and you cannot know them before reading it.