For questions related to the analysis of stock prices, stock markets, etc.
18
votes
4answers
2k views
Can I trust the Motley Fool?
A while back I checked out The Motley Fool while doing some research on mutual funds. I found their educational content to be a great overview of what to look for and started exploring. While The ...
10
votes
4answers
280 views
Does doing your “research”/“homework” on stocks make any sense?
One thing about investing has always bothered me. You constantly hear people saying you need to "do your research" or "do your homework" on a company before buying their stock. I rarely watch Mad ...
9
votes
4answers
1k views
What publicly available software do professional stock traders use for stock analysis?
What publicly available software do professional stock traders use for stock analysis? I assume they use something more advanced than Google Finance... right?
7
votes
3answers
201 views
Which Benjamin Graham book should I read first: Security Analysis or Intelligent Investor?
I recently graduated from engineering and I want to know more about investing.
I'm particularly interested in Benjamin Graham's ideas. I want to read all of his books, but I couldn't decide which one ...
7
votes
5answers
1k views
Importance of dividend yield when evaluating a stock?
Why is the dividend yield (Dividend divided by market price) of a stock a valuable parameter to consider when evaluating a stock? By looking at it, what can one infer about the stock?
edit: Thanks ...
6
votes
3answers
162 views
How can I remove the movement of the stock market as a whole from the movement in price of an individual share?
I think it would be useful to have a chart that shows how much a specific share out- or under-performs the composite index, e.g. Apple compared to the Nasdaq-100. I think (though I may be naive about ...
6
votes
4answers
415 views
What could cause a stock to trade below book value?
A company's book value is the worth of all their assets. What would cause a stock to trade below book value?
5
votes
1answer
468 views
Where can I find a breakdown of Google stock ownership?
I'm looking for a not too out of date source of information that lists who owns Google stock and how much they own. Is this available online somewhere?
5
votes
5answers
338 views
What are the implications of a corporate stock repurchase or share buyback program?
Zynga's board recently announced their authorization of repurchasing up to $200M shares of Class A stock. What are the implications when a company repurchases their own stock?
Some specific ...
5
votes
2answers
143 views
Correct calculation for determining real business book value per share?
I'm trying to calculate the real value of a business and, as an example, I picked Netflix.
From their latest financial statements I can see that:
Assets value is: $3,065,709,000
Liabilities value ...
5
votes
2answers
237 views
Valuation, pricing, and analysis of securities
I was wondering what differences are between valuation and pricing
of securities?
To me, they seem identical and for identical purposes.
If not, what is each of them trying to get from
what is ...
5
votes
1answer
105 views
Where can I obtain historic ratios for a sector?
I am trying to compare an individual company's historic annual ratios (leverage, liquidity, profitability, shareholder return, etc.) to its sector average. However, I can't find these numbers for a ...
4
votes
2answers
134 views
Does money made by a company on selling its shares show up in Balance sheet
When we purchase shares of a company for a certain sum of money (e.g: 1000 dollars), is this money immediately available to the company as a cash flow? In the balance sheet, will this money show up ...
4
votes
1answer
198 views
Understanding company income statements: What is a good profit margin that would make it worthwhile to invest?
I have been learning about how to read and understand a stock company's income statement and using those variables to determine the worth of the stock. My question is, what is a good profit margin for ...
4
votes
1answer
335 views
What is the “point” (purpose) of the S&P 500?
I've long wondered about the philosophy behind the selection of stocks in the S&P 500.
I've assumed that it was intended as a market indicator, with the selection being those that best paralleled ...
4
votes
4answers
561 views
What are the common moving averages used in a “Golden Cross” stock evaluation?
With stock evaluations, we have the "golden cross" event where short and long term moving averages cross over and we have a potential bull market soon. I have seen some definitions use the 200 day ...
4
votes
3answers
286 views
How do I factor dividends and yield into the performance of a security?
The basic stock chart tracks the price of the stock. As discussed here the price of the stock drops by the amount of the dividend. So when a dividend pays out the stock chart makes it look like ...
3
votes
4answers
532 views
Is an analyst's “price target” assumed to be for 12 months out?
I was surprised to see this announcement from Zach's Investment Research re: AAPL stock: "We maintain our Neutral rating on the stock and raise our price target to $354.” But AAPL is today trading ...
3
votes
2answers
695 views
What does “more buyers than sellers” in technical analysis of stocks actually mean?
I often hear/read technical analysts looking at volume and price action on a chart and claiming that there are "more buyers than sellers" or vice versa.
Since every trade requires a buyer and a ...
3
votes
4answers
435 views
Online tools for monitoring my portfolio gains/losses in real time?
My request is a simple one... I have about 5 stocks that I own currently and have owned for years now. I want to start trading more actively now but want to make informed decisions on how my stocks ...
3
votes
3answers
157 views
What does “profits to the shareholders jumped to 15 cents a share” mean?
I'm reading the news about a company and they state that: "net profits attributable to the shareholders jumped to US $25.6 million, or 15 cents a share". What does it mean in terms of share price? ...
3
votes
2answers
125 views
Calculating Profit Ratio (Gross Margin)
When looking at a company's income statement to calculate the Profit Ratio (Gross Margin)
PM = Net Profit / Sales
Do you include "other" revenue in the equation?
Example: XYZ Ltd Income Statement ...
3
votes
2answers
419 views
If a stock is selling for less than book value, is the company headed for bankruptcy?
A company's book value is the worth of all their assets. If its stock value is less than its book value, does that mean its business is worthless and bankruptcy is imminent?
This is a followup to my ...
3
votes
2answers
151 views
Why biotechnology has a high PE ratio
At this linK: http://biz.yahoo.com/p/sum_conameu.html
I am looking at P/E ratios by industry. I see that Biotechnology is having a P/E ratio of 145 which is very high compared to other industries. ...
3
votes
1answer
50 views
meaning of “differing bought and sold value of shares traded;” “money flows into vs out of” a stock
at:
http://www.avafin.com/articles/1018128.html
I see:
"Today, a total of 141 block trades were recorded, typically at least 10,000 shares of stock or more represent a single block unit. Further ...
3
votes
1answer
121 views
S&P reports: number of shareholders?
Just curious -- I've used S&P stock reports for the past 15 years, and I've always wondered about the "number of shareholders" listed in the report. It seems really low (e.g. the S&P report ...
3
votes
1answer
74 views
List of web sites or online forums for stock picking and security analysis
What are some quality web sites or online forums exclusively devoted to stock picking and security analysis? Paid sites are OK, too.
I am looking for a forum, rather than just a web site with analyst ...
3
votes
1answer
36 views
What securities is Return of Capital applicable to?
I am trying to understand to what securities Return of Capital is applicable (especially I am interested in stocks).
From Wikipedia:
Return of capital (ROC) refers to payments back to "capital ...
3
votes
2answers
111 views
What are support and resistance of a stock?
Checking Second Opinion report for a stock I saw the following:
Look for Support at 14.81
Watch for resistance at 15.37
Could anyone please explain what this means?
2
votes
2answers
269 views
Idea for getting rich using computers to track stocks
Hallo,
I have been toying with this idea in my mind for a while now and to me it sounds like a fool proof way of getting 'rich'. I'm sure someone has had the same idea as me, maybe even tried it, and ...
2
votes
4answers
175 views
How can I find out what factors are making a stock's price rise?
For example: Fannie Mae went up ~20% today, February 3, 2011. How come? What websites have you found to be useful in returning relevant information? It seems to me Yahoo Finance is not very good at ...
2
votes
3answers
83 views
How do I interpret this analysis from Second Opinion?
On Second Opinion analysis for a stock I read the following:
OPINION: LONG
RECOMMENDATION:
If you are long, hold current position. Do not initiate new position.
Stock is Not a Short Sell Candidate
...
2
votes
1answer
79 views
Is there a step-by-step procedure to find a security's intrinsic value?
Recently I was reading about different fundamental analysis approaches, and specifically about Value Investing, as proposed by Ben Graham and David Dodd. This approach describes a strategy which based ...
2
votes
1answer
24 views
Does post-IPO stock investing inhibit GDP growth?
The money that a company raises during an IPO funding round goes directly to the company, and that money is used to fund the business which definitely contributes to GDP growth. Following the IPO, the ...
2
votes
3answers
124 views
Are there common stock price trends related to employee option plans?
Facebook IPO was May 18th, 2012. I understand that employees are not able to sell their shares until 6 months after the date of IPO (is this correct?). Can we expect the price of Facebook to decrease ...
2
votes
2answers
110 views
How to graph the market year over year? for example Dow Jones Index
I understand the notion of the market being memory-less and we should not use the history to make future decision. Also, I see in this site there are mentions of specific times in a year where the ...
2
votes
1answer
132 views
What are 'business fundamentals'?
I remember the .Com crisis when experts were saying the market was returning to 'business fundamentals' to evaluate stock. Looking at this question, I was wondering what those are and whether some ...
2
votes
1answer
27 views
Benjamin Graham: Minimum Size of the company
In the book "Intelligent Investor", Graham recommends a minimum annual sales figure of 100 Million $ as one of the criteria.
How do we adjust this figure for Inflation and a country other than the ...
2
votes
2answers
71 views
Which set of earnings is used to work out the P/E of a stock
So company earnings can fluctuate quite a bit, based on the market conditions, seasonal conditions, whether there was a big spend in the last year etc.
Therefore, even the last years earnings could ...
1
vote
3answers
168 views
Which kind of investment seems feasible to have more cashflow every week or month?
My plan is to make close to $2000 a month/$500 a week through investments. For that, I can risk up to $2000 to start with. The following come in to my mind, even if nothing is for sure.
1) If I ...
1
vote
2answers
109 views
Why don't institutions share stock recommendations like Wall Street analysts?
The article Track Institutional Buying, Not Analysts states that:
Mutual funds, insurance companies, pension funds and other
institutional investors rely on their own research. Contrary to
...
1
vote
2answers
72 views
Should I use regular or adjusted close for backtesting?
In an attempt to try and perform few backtesting tasks, I have obtained some historical data. I have noticed that there are 2 closing prices; regular close and adjusted close. After some reading, I ...
1
vote
3answers
98 views
Why do moving average acts as support and resistance?
What is the reason that a particular moving average can act as a good indicator of support and resistance for a particular stock? Moving average is just an avg of closing prices over 30 days or 50 ...
1
vote
1answer
31 views
Get financial reports on Canadian companies
I resonantly started investing money in the stock market. I am wondering what is the equivalent to 10k financial reports in Canada. Also where can one download them. For example, in the US you can ...
1
vote
1answer
36 views
Accounting for splits in a stock price graph
Many companies will have splits of their stock (either forward or reverse).
However, when looking at the before and after prices, a raw analysis of the graph would look like the stock lost half its ...
1
vote
1answer
68 views
Where Can Deutsche Bank Stock Opinions Be Found?
I have been looking for Deutsche Bank stock opinions with little success. All I could find was on finviz.com where If I search for a stock it will mention if Deutsche Bank has an opinion.
1
vote
2answers
1k views
Historical data files for NYSE/NASDAQ daily open/close price data?
is there a place to get free access to NYSE/NASDAQ historical daily open/close data? Perhaps going back like 10 years? I'm more interested in the DOW and NASDAQ 100 data for this range, not ...
1
vote
1answer
156 views
Where to find free Thailand stock recommendations and research?
I have a portfolio which consists of Thai stocks and I need inputs on how to re-balance them.
Where could I get free recommendation/research about Thai stocks?
Thank you very much!
1
vote
1answer
39 views
Why bid and ask do not match the price at which the stock is being traded [duplicate]
For a particular stock, the stats look something like this:
Price: 54.55 $
Bid: 54.54 $
Ask: 54.55 $
Now if I place a market order, will it get executed at the Price (54.55 $)? My guess is yes. Now ...
0
votes
3answers
92 views
Why sales of a company can be more than its earnings
At this link:
http://www.thestreet.com/quote/ABX/details/company-profile.html
Under per share data:
Earnings: 3.36
Sales:14.14
Now Earnings are made up of sales and other stuff. So how comes sales ...
