OFF TOPIC (On using search programs)
Chuzzlewit, thanks for submitting to yet another grilling.
I am satisfied with your responses (you passed!). But I would like to address a comment you made:
The problem with a lot of your analysis of individual stock is the result of using various search engines. Remember that much of the data they process are raw, and as a result they err in earnings and cash flows which can throw the entire analysis off.
I presume you mean search programs, rather than search engines. Actually, the only search program I use is Telescan's ProSearch; all the others I have seen are much too primitive (although I understand that AAII has a good one). And, yes, the program is 1) expensive, and 2) is frequently afflicted with bugs of one kind or another, which screw up the data. But, as a congenital Doubting Thomas, I never put blind trust in anything, and so I rely on ProSearch only to give me a "rough" (often very rough) idea.
And, more to the point, search programs should be used not to analyze individual companies, but to compare individual companies to others -- all others, others in the same industry, others of the same market cap, etc., etc. It can also be used to check out one's assumptions. This can be done after one has already done some research on a company, as well as before. As an example, let me cite a recent post of mine (about RES):
Message 4496116
A good search program can assemble data much, much faster than one could ever do for oneself, and it can be a great time-saver (as long, of course, as one does not use it as one's only source, and as long as one retains proper skepticism about the results). Try it -- you might like it!
jbe
P.S. The info. I got about TYC and ASND did not come from a search program. |
