A good investor is imbued with endless curiosity fueled by
the need to find those pieces of information that provide an edge in a
information saturated environment. Knowing one aspect or another is not enough
for one to become a successful investor. Investments are built on layers of
information. From basic valuation to global forces shaping the business
environment. To hone my sense of markets, economies, consumers
and companies I use a wide variety of financial publications and sites to build
a full picture of a target equity. Today, I will talk about my favorites.
Note: This is in addition to brokerage sites for prop research and analysis and Value Line.
With a masters degree in international economics I have an
affinity for two global financial rags. The Financial Times and the Economist
present globalized views of world culture, markets and politics that are
increasingly essential in current times. It is not only true that when the U.S.
gets sick other parts of the world get a cold, but it may be that bugs in other
parts of the world are responsible for the symptoms in the U.S. I see the FT as
daily version of the Economist. My sincere hope is someday to be able to finish an issue of
the Economist before the next arrives!
For additional high-level information, I turn to a suite of
blogs including Econbrowser, Calculatied Risk, and Realtime Economics. Between
these three blogs an investor can gain valuable insights on domestic and
international economic issues as well as the politics behind them. The writers
on each of these blogs take time care to add substantial depth to their posts.
Their writing provides me with a deeper understanding of the economic forces at
work in the global economy and every now and then overlaps with an investment
thesis of mine.
Moving down to the next level of specificity, Zero Hedge
provides an exhaustive look at the areas of finance, economics and politics for
the investing public. It provide what traditional financial journalism
struggles to cover: rumor and conjecture. While it prides itself on and
anarchic, uber-revolutionary form of gorilla financial journalism, it often
identifies financial and economic issues before the mainstream media. Zero
Hedge is not afraid of complex issues and frequent posts. Its mysterious
writers post upwards of 50 time a day. However, it also provides outstanding
global market briefings prior to the opening bell in the U.S. One must be wiling
look past the dramatic doom and glooms that often appear in Zero Hedge posts to
get all that value that it has to offer.
Now that I have the lay of the economic and market land, I
turn to the best free stock screener on the web: Finviz. It contains 70 different
screens and allows the user to save and update them in real time. Finviz also
allows for cross-comparisons of companies and industries in a very concise
format. This is perfect when looking for industry leaders or companies that
have value characteristics that make them worth investigating. I came across
Panera Bread in August of last year with a Finviz screen. That lead, along with
thorough analysis has provided more than a 30 percent gain since September. As
an additional perk, it also contains a real time news page with links to a wide
variety financial news services and blogs.
Recently I discovered StockTwits. This is a Howard Lindzon production that uses a twitter model to deliver rapid information on specific equities. Though I am not a trader, I found this service very helpful for staying on top of the news cycle when looking to buy or sell positions.
I consider all these sources arrows in my information
quiver. The combination allow me to remain on top of important issues that
shape my investing philosophy and strategy.
I am always on the hunt for new souces to stay ahead of the information curve. Let me know what you use!
Mahmoons
