I could only imagine that back in the day doing research on a particular stock had to be endeavor. Today, you have almost too much information at your finger tips; within a few seconds I can look up the recent filings of a company, all relevant metrics, all recent news and even what others are thinking about the stock. There are certain stocks I always check before buying any position.
List of Stock Sites I Check Before Purchasing a Stock
- Google Finance – This is almost where I always start. Right from the initial screen I get to see the 1 day, 5 day, 1 month, 6 month, YTD, 1 year, 5 year, 10 year and multi-decade charts, as well as, the P/E, institutional ownership rate and 52 high/low. Also on that screen I get to see all the recent news, which becomes very important if there was a recent pop or drop.
- Twitter – Not everyone knows this, but you can search stock symbols on twitter by putting “$” in front of the symbol in the search field will get you thousands upon thousands of users discussing the equity. Like the old yahoo forums, you have to weed through a lot of junk, but sometimes you can find people providing real opinions and links to articles.
- Seeking Alpha – Seeking Alpha is the last spot I check out. 90% of the time you find amazing, thoughtful articles on the equity you are searching.
Whether you buying a long term hold or a short term trade there are so many free resources on the internet to check out.
I typically go to:
Google/Yahoo! Finance
MorningStar
Longrundata
Dividend.com
GuruFocus