With the holiday season in full force, a myriad of hot products are at the forefront of the retail world. But Validea CEO John Reese says not to make the mistake of thinking a good product always equals a good stock.

“Good investing takes a lot more than just identifying a good product,” Reese writes in his latest Forbes.com column.  “Companies with very good products can make for very bad investments if they have shoddy management, or if they are loaded down with debt. And valuation is so critical — even a well-run company with a great product and good balance sheet can be a bad investment if it is trading at 200 times earnings.”

Reese says it’s crucial to look at the fundamentals and financials of any company you invest in, regardless of what product it sells. He looks at a handful of firms hawking hot holiday products and examines how they stack up against his Guru Strategies (each of which is based on the approach of a different investing great). To read the full article and see the results, click here.