Investors are continually looking for a good deal in the stock market. But how exactly should we define value?

Quantitatively, publicly-traded companies should serve as compounding machines for their investors. They raise capital -- either through debt or by issuing stock -- then put it to work into projects. If the after-tax profits they generate are greater than their associated costs, they're creating value for us as the owners of the business (i.e. as the investors).

But the investing world is also extremely complex. Markets are changing and being disrupted by new technologies every year. CEOs and leadership teams are continually trying to balance between their desire to be visionary and their need to be efficient. Underinvesting in growth could put a company several steps behind its competitors. Yet going "all-in" on an acquisition that turns out badly could very quickly light their shareholders' capital on fire.

So what are we as the investors to do?

Are there specific metrics we should look at, to determine if a company is using our money responsibly? How should we figure out what the right price is to pay for a stock? And are their any specific stocks out there right now, which might be significantly undervalued and could represent a great bargain for us as investors?

investing CEO Simon Erickson recently spoke with John Rotonti, who is the host of the JRo Show podcast (and available on both Spotify and Apple Podcasts).

John previously worked for nine years at The Motley Fool, where he was an analyst on several newsletters and most recently served as their Head of Investor Training and Development. Simon and John have been friends for a decade, and we recently exclusively published his interview with legendary Fidelity fund manager Joel Tillinghast on our own 7investing site.