For anyone with the motivation, I would highly recommend the very solid investment strategy I have seen used on this thread:
1. Screen for stocks with rock-solid fundamentals (including very low debt, history of increasing earnings, lower than average institutional sponsorship, an excellent return on equity, high net profit margin, increasing revenues, low as possible PEG ratio, etc.). These two sites come to mind:
stockscreener.com
alphachart.com
2. Research the company quarterly (10Q) and annual (10K) reports, along with any secondary or other filings at the Edgar database of the Security & Exchange Commission (SEC). Here's the link:
sec.gov
3. Review all the news you can find on the company, wherever you can find it, and in as much detail as is available. Yahoo, Reuters, etc.
4. Visit threads (like this one) to get the opinions of other people following the company in question. Often times, every question you could ever have imagined has already been answered in the course of discussion.
5. Call the investor relations department for the company, and ask those pesky little questions that do not get answered, or need to be verified, from all of your earlier digging. Ask the tough ones like "how much has the inventory level increased in the past month", "what is the book to bill ratio currently at", "has there been any recent managment changes in the past month", "what will the money raised during the recent secondary offering be used for; please explain in detail".Be courteous and friendly, the respect you display is often rewarded in terms of the quality of feedback you receive.
6. Follow up all of this fundamental analysis with as much a dose of technical analysis and charting as your stomach and head can handle. This should be used to confirm your opinion that has been built upon fundamental analysis of the company. Use the technical analysis to assist in timing when you may purchase the stock, at what price you may buy it, and to develop a sense if the price is following any kind of pattern. Confirm technical indicators with as many others as you can for best results. Try these excellent sites Todd Wiener recommended earlier:
bigcharts.com
http://www/alphachart.com
and this site has an excellent on-line copy of the book he recommended "Technical Analysis From A to Z" :
equis.com
7. Sit back and let your investment mature, trying to exercise the tax benefits provided by a long-term investment of at least 18 months. Monitor the news, discussion, technical indicators, and most importantly the fundamentals in an on-going manner, looking for any signifigant changes. Resist the temptation to act on impulse, make your decisions based on sound strategy you have already developed in the past.
I hope this helps even one person reading the thread. It is only meant to summarize a possible strategy you may follow to increase your chances for success in investing.
Regards, JB
P.S. Todd, your input has been phenomenenal, sound, courteous, and highly professional. I have learned more here from you than any other exterior source, and I am sure I am not alone in this thought.
I was able to find your memo that had the name of the book you recommended. I took the liberty to purchase it anyways, even though I also found the site I mentioned above.
Best wishes for the best New Year. I am as well armed as I can be at this point in time, in large part due to all of your contributions.
I will give ETEC the proper summary it deserves, but on a first pass, it appears to be well positioned in the race to .18 micron semiconductor manufacturing, and beyond.
Browse the 1996 Intel annual report, look at the Board of Directors membership list, and see why my excellent friend Winston H. Chen has earned my respect (he is no jelly-boy)!
P.S.S. EVERYONE, kick the cat when he comes meowing around here, it's probably Tom Cat that you were lucky enough to tumble :o) |
