How To Analyze A Stock

So you’re about to invest a said amount of money into stocks, but which stock do you pick on that particular day? Whether you’re into long-term trading, or into swing trading, riding the ups and downs throughout a handful of days or a couple of weeks, then you might need to analyze potential longs and shorts on a daily basis, to keep current on the events of the companies you own shares of.

This is a pretty tedious process, but luckily there are only a handful of “buzz collectors” that aggregate official news, gossip and public sentiment. Let’s explore these options when looking to acquire company stock.

Buying

If you don’t know what to buy and are looking for inspiration start by looking at both Google Finance and Yahoo Finance. These two stock news aggregators are the giants.

Yahoo Finance

Yahoo Finance Stock Charts

Some areas of stock browsing interest lie in Yahoo Market Movers and Yahoo Stock Center. Here you’ll be able to review the day’s best stock gainers and losers and news associated with these movements. rising and falling stocks by volume work during trading hours to show sudden movement in stock operation volume, which might be an indicator and trigger to act. Earnings reports calendar can be accessed at Yahoo as well.

Google Finance

Google Finance Stock Analysis

The Google Finance Dashboard features quite an overview for stocks. Investors are able to check out trending stocks by volume, price change, popular searches (and since Google is a search giant this latter one is pretty important). Market news bring you news on stocks and the economy, and also filter out news by your stock watchlist/portfolio.

Another great feature when looking at what stock to buy is the stock screener, which allows you to boil down the thousands of tickers to some potential ones based on criteria like market capitalization, weekly and yearly lows and highs, and dozens of other raw company and analytical metrics. A very powerful feature when looking for both short-term and long-term acquisitions.

StockTwits

StockTwits Website

StockTwits is another great place for inspiration. Look at trending stocks and sentiments revolving around them. Follow people who appear to be doing well and who have something intelligent to say. It’s an indispensable tool for every stock trader – amateur and pro alike.

Selling

Selling research entails much of what buying is, look at the market news revolving around your current portfolio. Sometimes it pays to be more prudent and cash out early than wait until the price drops below your buy price.

Photo credit — @teegardin