Types of Investment Information

Investment information can be divided into 5 types, each concerned with an important aspect of the investment process.

1.  Economic and current event information.

This includes background as well as forecast data related to economic, political, and social trends on a domestic as well as a global scale.  Such information provides a basis for assessing the environment in which decisions are made.

2.  Industry and company information.

This includes background as well as forecast data on specific industries and companies.  Investors use such information to assess the outlook in a given industry or a specific company.  Because of its company orientation, it is most relevant to stock, bond or options investments.

3.  Information on alternative investment vehicles.

This includes background and predictive data for securities other than stocks, bonds, and options, such as mutual funds and futures.

4.  Price information.

This includes current price quotations on certain investment vehicles, particularly securities.  These quotations are commonly accompanied by statistics on the recent price behaviour of the vehicle.

5.  Information on personal investment strategies.

This includes recommendations on investment strategies or specific purchase or sale actions.  In general, this information tends to be educational or analytical rather than descriptive.

Dealing With Information Overload When Investing

By: IS
Date posted: 02.22.2012 (5:00 am) 

It’s a rather common feeling these days isn’t it? I generally feel like I have a fairly good grasp of most stocks that I follow but even that isn’t always true.

Think about how things were in previous generations:

Someone thinking about buying a stock might have bought a newspaper, looked at a few columns or an article about that company and tried to figure out how good of an investment it is. That research would probably have taken a few minutes…then what?

Researching A Stock In 1960

-Reading newspaper to get stock quotes and economic analysis

Researching A Stock In 2012

These days, that process can lead you down a very exhausting road:

-Looking at charts getting technical indicators such as trend analysis
-Going to read the company’s financial reports
-Listening to earnings calls as well as Q&A with analysts
-Going through Wall Street and other research which is often available on the web
-Going through media such as the Wall Street Journal and The Globe and Mail
-Going through Blogs analysis (this one alone could take many days)
-Looking at social media talk about the stock (Twitter, etc)
-Doing a similar analysis for the sector and for both clients and suppliers

There Is No Way To “Complete” Your Analysis

At what point would you consider that you’ve gone through all of the information? It just seems to me like you can never reach that point. At that point, the game becomes as much about being able to judge:

-what information has most value
-how to go through it quickly but efficiently
-how to either come to a conclusion or move on to a new stock if it non conclusive

Personally the RSS Reader Is My “Filter”

I personally have many of my top information sources setup in my RSS reader and every day I go through them very quickly marking those that I want to read further. How? I guess to some extent I must rely on the title and images to seem accurate as I probably spend a few seconds at most to make that determination.

How do you deal with information overload when investing?

http://www.intelligentspeculator.net/investing_commentary/dealing-with-information-overload-when-investing/

Doing Your Homework: Finding the up to date Information for every Stock on Your List

Doing Your Homework: Finding the up to date Information for every Stock on Your List

 

Knowing the list of key information critical to stock selection isn’t enough for success. You have to actually find that information for every stock on your list. And, because the information is constantly changing, you also have to keep your analysis up to date - preferably quarterly.

 

How much time your research effort will take depends on how you do it.

 

Library:  Visiting the library and writing or calling for annual reports will certainly work, but you’ll spend a lot of time gathering data. If you’re able to automatically download the information you want directly into a spreadsheet or database, that part of your research can happen in minutes every day - while you’re sleeping.

 

Internet:  It’s hard to imagine anything that has done more to ease the burden of securities research for the individual investor than the development of the Internet. The amount and quality of information you can easily access from the comfort of your own home truly boggles the mind.

• Need an annual report? Click.
• Access to government fillings? Click.
• Prices, charts, analysis, commentary? Just click again.

Information that once took vast amounts of time and dedication to assemble now rushes to your fingertips down the information superhighway.

 

Technology can certainly help you cast a wider net in your search for winning stocks, but your ultimate success as an investor will most likely be determined by how you use the information you find, rather than how you find it.

 

There are three fundamental ways in which the information you’re looking for will vary:

 

1. Cost

• A surprising amount of information is available for free, either directly from companies themselves, from government agencies like the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), or certain Web sites.
• Brokerage firms often make some form of research available to their customers.
• Subscription services vary dramatically in price, from the cost of a daily newspaper to thousands of dollars per month for comprehensive data and analysis services.

 

 

2. Format
Information is available in print or electronic format.

• Newspapers, magazines, and annual reports are familiar in print.
• Electronic versions of all these items are commonly available, as are a host of software applications and Web sites.

 

3. Content

• Financial statements, balance sheets, and company reports provide a rich source of data items, but you will probably still have to compute the ratios yourself.
• Many third party information services provide exactly this kind of processed information already calculated for you.
• Key financial ratios, earnings trends, and per share data are commonly listed, along with analysis and commentary, including rating services and lists of specific security recommendations.
• The amount of information is usually commensurate with its cost.

 

The cost, format and content of all kinds of information sources are rapidly evolving, and any attempt at a comprehensive listing would be almost instantly obsolete. By pointing out a few alternatives across the spectrum of choices, we hope to show you a sample of the kind of information that’s available. How you choose to proceed will depend on your level of interest, resources, preferences, and expertise with computers.

 

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Printed Materials:

• Newspapers (business sections)
• A company’s annual report
• Stock rating publications: Value Line Investment Survey, Standard & Poor’s Stock Reports, Morningstar Stock Analyst Reports

 

Internet Sources

• Most recent annual and quarterly reports
• Recent news releases and access to a news release archive
• A calendar of events, including planned shareholder meetings.
• Notes and commentary from recent analysts meetings, speeches, or other presentations.

 

Software and Data Services

• These are software programs and data providers that deliver an almost unimaginable amount of detailed financial data on virtually every publicly traded stock.
• They include powerful analysis tools and forecasting models, charting capabilities, and interfaces with spreadsheets and other software programs.
• They are also expensive.

 

Once you find the right source of information for you, it’s time to use your data to define the universe of stocks you will be tracking.