Chowder,
You accurately describe the intent of my Quality Snapshot system, that Ferdi also uses. I "invented" it to give a quick overview of company quality when one doesn't have time to do a deep-dive on things like a company's dividend record, financials, business Story (how do they make money), balance sheet, etc.
Like you, before I buy a stock I do a deeper dive than the Quality Snapshot. I only invest in stocks or ETFs that I have written detailed articles about within the past year or so, or stocks that I already own. My writing step, which of course is not common to many others, usually involves detailed looks at a company's dividend performance, its Story and quality, its financials, and its valuation.
By the time I get done doing all that, I usually have a pretty sound basis for an investment decision.
Also like you, I have some analyst sources that I like, and others not so much. I don't use Schwab's stock grades for anything. I used to use CFRA's grades, but I found they were often out of step with my own analysis, and also with facts that they reported in the same report -- like some outside source had supplied them. So I don't use them any more either (I'm referring to the grades; I use their reports as source material for other information).
Now that I have Premium at SA, I've looked over their grades a few times for a few stocks, and I can't make head or tail out of them. I also know through painful experience that their fundamental data has a much higher error rate than one would expect, and the grades are derived from that data. So I don't use their grades for anything either.
Dave |
