Articles

A 500 Million Toman Portfolio With a Six-Month Horizon: Tehran's Index Hit 5.736 Million Points on August 11, Screening Beats Guessing at a Correction

A Sahmino reader asked what to buy for a roughly 500 million toman, six-month stock portfolio next week, or whether to wait for a correction in Mehr (late September). Sahmino does not give buy or sell advice. Tehran's TEDPIX hit 5,736,512 points on Tuesday, August 11, 2026 (20 Mordad 1405), up about 11.3 percent over seven sessions. This report explains a screening framework instead: P/E versus sector, free float, liquidity and diversification.

A Low P/E Does Not Always Mean Cheap: Four Traps the Ratio Hides on the Tehran Exchange

The price to earnings ratio is the stock market's most used number and its most misunderstood. Karbon traded at a P/E of roughly 5.1 against its coal group average of 21.8 on 13 July 2026 (22 Tir 1405), a figure that screams "cheap" at first glance. This guide sets out what P/E actually measures, the four situations in which it misleads, why high inflation bends the number on the Tehran exchange, and the four questions to ask before drawing any conclusion.

How to Read a Financial Statement in 5 Minutes: A Practical Guide to Codal Reports

Codal is full of numbers, but only six of them are decisive: operating revenue, gross profit, operating profit, net profit and EPS, accumulated losses, and operating cash flow. A step by step guide to reading a listed company's income statement, with real examples from Saipa and Iran Khodro, and measured against the 61% annual inflation rate for the year to Tir 1405 (June/July 2026).

Compound Interest in an Inflationary Economy: Why a 23% Deposit Against 61.4% Inflation Returns Minus 24%

Compound interest is not a financial trick but a mathematical property that works in both directions. At 20 percent, 100 million tomans becomes about 3,834 million over 20 years, while simple interest yields only 600 million. But inflation compounds too: at the 61.4 percent annual inflation of Tir 1405 (July 2026), the purchasing power of cash halves roughly every 14 months, and a 23 percent deposit delivers a real return near minus 24 percent.

Pricing Gold in Iran: From the Global Ounce to the Number on Your Jeweller's Invoice

This lesson builds Iran's gold price as a four-link chain: divide the global ounce by 31.1035, multiply by the dollar rate, multiply by 0.75 for 18 karat purity, and multiply by 4.3318 to reach the mesghal quote. Then see how the making charge, the retailer's margin of up to 7 percent, and the 10 percent value added tax turn the metal price into the number on a jeweller's invoice, with hypothetical worked examples and one dated real snapshot.

What Moves the Dollar? The Four Channels That Set the Exchange Rate

This lesson explains where Iran's dollar rate comes from: the FX supply and demand balance, the rial layer (money supply and inflation), expectations, and political or sanctions shocks. With a hypothetical worked example and a few dated real figures, you will see why the rate can sit still for weeks and then jump in days.

Fixed Income and T-Bills (Akhza): Why a Bond's Price Falls When Rates Rise

This lesson explains what fixed-income securities and Iran's Islamic Treasury Bills (Akhza) are, why a bond's price and its yield move in opposite directions, and how to read the single most important number in this market, the yield to maturity (YTM), using simple hypothetical examples.

Starting From Zero on the Tehran Stock Exchange: Five First Moves for a New Investor

If you wanted to enter the stock market from zero today, where would you start? This beginner's guide walks through five basic, evergreen investing steps: separating your risk capital and getting a trading code, understanding the business behind each ticker, starting with funds, keeping a long horizon, and managing your emotions. Principles that do not depend on today's market conditions.

Earnings Per Share (EPS) and Price-to-Earnings (P/E): What They Are and How to Read Them

This lesson explains how earnings per share (EPS) and the price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio are calculated, the difference between the trailing and forward versions, what "adjustment" means, and why in Iran's inflationary economy a low P/E does not always mean a cheap stock.

TEDPIX vs the Equal-Weight Index: What Sets Them Apart and Why They Diverge

Learn what the Tehran Stock Exchange's overall index (TEDPIX) and its equal-weight index each measure, why one can turn green while the other stays red, and what a divergence between them signals about market breadth and real-money (retail) inflows. A labelled hypothetical shows how an index can rise while most stocks fall.

Risk and Return: How Are They Related, and Which Risks Threaten a Household's Savings?

Asset Allocation in Iran's Inflationary Economy: A Professional Framework for Building and Rebalancing a Portfolio

Asset allocation, not stock picking, explains most of a portfolio's return variability, yet the standard models assume what Iran lacks: a true risk-free asset and single-digit inflation. This article rewrites the framework for Iran's market: the shared currency anchor and false diversification, real versus nominal return, the true role of each asset class, and rebalancing rules where there are neither hedging instruments nor uniform liquidity.

What Is an Investment Fund? Fixed-Income, Equity, Balanced, Gold Funds and ETFs Explained

What is an investment fund, and how does it differ from buying shares or gold directly? This lesson explains the main fund types (fixed-income, equity, balanced and gold), what NAV (Net Asset Value) means, and how an exchange-traded fund (ETF) differs from an issuance-and-redemption fund, with simple worked examples.

Iran's Multiple Exchange Rates: Why Is There More Than One Dollar Price?

Learn why one dollar has several prices in Iran: we separate the free-market rate, the Exchange Center rate, and the preferential rate, say who each rate is for, and use a hypothetical worked example plus dated real figures to show what the gap between them means.

What Is the Coin Premium (Hobab) and How Is It Calculated?