General Stock Evaluation?

[PoPPeR]

I realize that there's no such thing as guarentees in the stock market and every choice depends on your own evaluation and research, but on like a "general rule" basis, what numbers (like EPS or industry growth and things like that) give you a general overview or first impression on whether or not its a decent buy or stay away? Like if you had a bunch of numbers and statistics, and only 5 minutes to decide, what woudl you look at?

 

[PMoore]

I look at the internal ownership of the company and read the company outlook.
Other than that, graphs of the stock price is great if you know what to look for.

 

[PoPPeR]

yeah that's what I mean, like is projected earnings a good indicator, how much should u trust analysists, how does the industry effect them, and how much of a factor should iraq play into every decision?

 

[Miramonti]

past earnings performance, consistency
price to earnings ratio, per
has it increased alot lately (possible overbought) or decreased alot lately (possibly oversold)
has it increased alot as a funtion of the overall market/industry, or independently.

It all depends on how long someone is looking to hold shares of the company too, i.e. <6 months for x years etc.

 

[PoPPeR]

Ah ic. Like long term investment, it doesn't really matter how the company is doing right now does it? If they aren't going bankrupt, and they are a solid company, they should rebound if your doing it long term? How much should you try to use common sense or things like that when evaluating?

 

[Miramonti]

Also,

The industry affects them so the cheaper the industry, the better, if you find a good company you want to invest in. It increases the upside room imo. When the markets down as it has been lately, you will often find good investments.

Reg. trusting analysts, its a decieving number because altho they often are close (when taking averages of the analysts), if the company announces lower expectations in the future the stock could tank (which is atleast why you want a company thats pretty consistent, the odds in your favor)

I think if the US goes to war in iraq, the market may initially fall but will be very good for the price of stocks, as it will stabilize our economic interests in the region as well as our overall uncertainty of the situation. I hate to say that that because I'm against the war.

Originally posted by: PoPPeR
Ah ic. Like long term investment, it doesn't really matter how the company is doing right now does it? If they aren't going bankrupt, and they are a solid company, they should rebound if your doing it long term? How much should you try to use common sense or things like that when evaluating?

Common sense is very important! (altho not full proof.)

Investing in just one company is dangerous because its not hedged against anything and is pretty naked to the unexpected, versus a mutual fund. Its a risk/return thing...if you can take the risk, and you're right, the returns will probably be better...but on the flip side, the opposite goes as well, so common sense is very important when you get into a position in the first place so that you atleast get into a stock at a reasonable price to begin with.

 

[slydecix]

some basic things i've discovered over time (for moderately short-term investing, like holding onto a stock for a few weeks and months at a time)

-Well, first of all, i'd spend more than 5 minutes looking at a company (i'd check out reports about the market segment, some of its competitors, and of course all the financials)
-Look at short and long-term trends (the stochastic graph is a pretty good indicator)
-Diversify Diversify Diversify!
-Don't buy anything with extremely low volume... anything below 100,000 shares traded per day
-Don't be afraid to sell a stock even if you've taken some losses on it
-That said, don't be afraid to sell a stock after you've made gains
-Also, don't feel like you have to have all your money invested, sometimes it's better to just hold onto your cash and stay out of the water!

hope that helps... good luck

 

[PoPPeR]

it helps quite a bit. Sorry to make you type all that up, but I'm not actaully investing money heh. We've been assigned a project where we get a stock on the fortune 500 and we do an analysis on it, present information, and give our recommendation as to whether or not its a good investment for long term. I was just wondering because so many people have asked me for help, if I can only spend 5 minutes looking at their stock statistics, what is a general simple indicator as to whether its decent or not.

 

[slydecix]

Originally posted by: PoPPeR
it helps quite a bit. Sorry to make you type all that up, but I'm not actaully investing money heh. We've been assigned a project where we get a stock on the fortune 500 and we do an analysis on it, present information, and give our recommendation as to whether or not its a good investment for long term. I was just wondering because so many people have asked me for help, if I can only spend 5 minutes looking at their stock statistics, what is a general simple indicator as to whether its decent or not.

yearly earnings per share growth