Thanks for all of the feedback yesterday on our SNAP vs. TWTR debate. It seems there's a pretty good split of supporters out there for each stock going forward. There were some interesting comments regarding SNAP's ability to leverage their young user base over the next several years. This has obviously worked for Apple (AAPL) and Alphabet (GOOGL) quite well in recent years, as both companies have made a very predominant effort to get their products into the hands of schools, and ultimately the younger generation they'll be looking to sell to for the rest of their lives. Not a bad strategy at all when a company like Microsoft (MSFT) just recently announced their own education driven initiatives. Problem is Alphabet and Apple both are already deeply embedded in the space, so it will be interesting to see if Microsoft can make any headway there. With the Fed announcement looming shortly, investors have to be at least a little concerned about corporate America losing its baby bottle, fiscal stimulus and low interest rates. There's very little doubt much of the S&P 500's growth in recent years can be attributed to an extremely attractive interest rate environment. It's been tough for consumers to borrow, but it definitely hasn't been tough at all for those public companies with good credit ratings. Many professionals out there will tell you it has been the single biggest growth factor for stocks going back several years now, but how long that will continue is probably going to start becoming a bit of an issue. Elite Opportunity Pro (EOP) lead analyst, John Monroe, says, "With the rate curve likely to start rotating back the other way soon, it's probably very prudent for investors to avoid those companies with either way too much debt on the books or very poor cash levels, because if they haven't been able to get it done with the type of monetary environment we've had for several years, how on earth are they going to get it done now?" He's got a good point, one that would suggest sticking with or going with those growth companies that have already proven they're doing the right things with what has historically been one of the most favorable financing environments in history. So how do you assess that? There are several ways obviously, but one quick and easy way to determine a company's debt and/or cash levels is to simply go to Yahoo! Finance, find the stock you're for, and then click on its "statistics" tab. Once there, scroll down to the company's balance sheet stats on the left side and there you'll have it. Just to give you a couple of polarizing opposite examples, let's have a look at Alphabet (GOOGL) and AutoZone (AZO). You can see with GOOGL here, the company is not only a cash cow with $92.44B in cash, it also has very little debt when compared to its cash reserves - only $3.94B in debt. It's probably pretty safe to assume GOOGL could pay off their debt no problem on any given day, and still have plenty of cash left to do pretty much whatever the heck they'd want to do. Then there's AZO, a stock many have loved for a very long time. But when you look at their cash and debt details, it becomes quite apparent that AZO has an extremely high debt of $5.15B when compared to its much more modest $221.51M cash reserve. I don't know if I find that attractive. Of course both companies have generated some excellent free cash flow over the last twelve months, but which company would you prefer if you just had to go on this valuation statistic alone? I know it would be GOOGL for me without even thinking twice about it. And when we look at the way both stocks have been behaving lately, I think it's pretty easy to understand why their charts are doing what they're doing. It's not like this one stat is everything when it comes to a public company, but it sure doesn't hurt to have a look at these line items of a company's balance sheet. It's going to become more and more prevalent as the Fed decides to raise rates over the next several months, if at all. So pay close attention to a company's cash reserves - even with penny stocks - because without the almighty king of the financial world... cash, it's probably going to be a rough uphill climb for those who don't have enough or any at all. If you're looking for larger cap ideas with good solid fundamentals and forward looking growth potential, these guys below have revealed undervalued NASDAQ and NYSE listed stocks for well over four years now, and many of the returns in those long-term picks have been off the charts.