My weekdays all start pretty much the same way: The coffeemaker wakes
me up at 5:20am by grinding a Danish/Java blend of coffee beans. I boot
up the computer, head downstairs, and send out Max the wonder dog to get the newspaper.
By the time I head back upstairs to my home office (steaming cup of
sacred Joe in hand), the computer has already launched several websites --
sites I find absolutely essential to investing and trading.
I’m sure many of you may are already familiar with these sites. They
are all essential sources of data; Each has proven themselves reliable;
Best of all (for investors without large research budgets), they are
absolutely free of charge. (Some registration is required).
Let me also add that I have no affiliation with any of them -- other
than as a registered user. "Control D" will bookmark them for you:
• Futures Fair Value
How misleading are the raw futures numbers to the day's activity? Very.
What matters most is "Fair Value" -- a concept that simply reconciles
the futures ability to predict where the markets will open relative to the
previous days close. CNBC sometimes mentions fair value in the very
early morning, and then that's the last you hear of it.
This CNN/Money site gives you insight to where the actual open will be,
relative to the futures.
• Barrons Economic Calendar
A free section of the otherwise subscription based Wall Street Journal On-Line – and a very worthwhile page. It presents an overview of important events happening during the upcoming week. Included are all the economic releases for each day; A host of secondary scheduled events -- industry conferences, analysts days, Fed Governor speeches -- are also included.
Included in the Barron’s Economic Calendar is a button titled
"Simply Economics"
"Simply Economics" is an understandable and intelligent roundup of the meanings and impact of all the economic numbers contained on the calendar. The details included are broad, and quite frankly, I'm amazed that this site bucks the usual Dow Jones trend of subscription only.
• Stock Charts Market Summary
Stock Charts is an interesting round up of how each sector of the market has performed that day. Not just the indexes, but equities broken down by their each S&P industry subsection. Additionally, there are breadth indicators, currencies, commodities and more. I find this to be a very useful snapshot of the overall environment.
An interesting variation on the sector analysis theme is available from
Barchart.com:
Their approach is to break down each sector by industry groups. Not only can you see the relative performance of every group in the market, but merely clicking on an Industry Subgroup brings up a list of all the stocks in the group. Pretty neat.
• Earnings Calendar
Have you ever got “caught” in a stock without knowing when their
earnings were coming out? A horrible report and 40% drop later, you swore you
would never let that happen again.
This site eliminates the pathetic excuse of “I didn’t know.”
The Earnings.com calendar is invaluable. Enter a portfolio of
stocks, and it displays a variety of crucial intelligence on your
holdings. Most important are the earnings release dates and conference
calls. Also included are analyst upgrades and downgrades, mid quarter
reports, news releases, etc.
A quick glance shows which, if any, of your holdings have earnings
coming up. You can also enter any stock symbol (not just your portfolio
holdings), and get the same event info. Just a fabulous free site.
• Yahoo Finance Stock Profile
If you had just one site you could go to before purchasing a stock, HANDS
DOWN -- this would be it. It has almost every piece of data you could
possibly ask for on any company, and more:
Take a look at GE as an example: Basic info like company address, URLs, and telephone numbers. Details like institutional ownership, upgrade/downgrade history, charts, SEC filings from Edgar Online -- all in one place.
That's just the tip of the iceberg: also included are links to who its
competitors are and what index a company may have membership in. I like
seeing how much stock insiders hold, (including 5%+ owners), as well as
their recent buys and sells. Net Institutional buying and selling is
also here.
A broad variety of statistics are also available at a glance: 52-week
high and low, average daily volume (10-day & 3-month Avg), market
capitalization, shares outstanding, float, dividends & splits, book
value, valuation ratios, EBITDA, management effectiveness scores, financial
strength, and lastly short interest -- all in one neat and easy to read
package.
Nothing annoys me more when someone (usually one of my brokers) asks me
for information that's readily available here. This site allows you to
be totally self sufficient; It’s truly an embarrassment of riches.
A link contained within the Yahoo Finance site is also worth
mentioning:"
Ratio Comparisons" (about halfway down the page on the left side).
Since Multex supplies much of the data in YahooFinance, its no surprise
that they slice and dice it even finer. They do so in a site devoted to
"Ratio Comparisons."
Taking a variety of data points, Multex shows how any company you may
choose stacks up against their Industry, their sub Sector and the S&P
500. Included are a variety of "Valuation Ratios" (P/E, Beta, Price to
Sales, Price to Book, etc.), and "Profitability Ratios" (Gross Margin, EBITD,
Operating Margin, Pre-Tax Margin, etc.)
The comparisons also shows dividends, growth rates (%), efficiency
ratios. Whether you are a quant fiend or a fundamentalist, this site has
something for you.
Lastly, a bonus site:
• Technical Analysis A to Z
I use technical analysis as a key component of my trading. Anytime I
want to see an explanation of a term, or get a quick synopsis of some arcane
indicator, this is my first stop. I own the "Technical Analysis A to Z"
book, and find the site to be a convenient supplement.
Barry L. Ritholtz
June 17, 2002
If you would like a free subscription to my bi-weekly market comments, please send an email to
email to Ritholtz@aol.com, including the word "SUBSCRIBE" in the subject matter line. Previous market comments are archived
here.
Copyright © 2001 Barry L. Ritholtz, All Rights Reserved worldwide. May not be copied, stored or redistributed without prior, written permission.
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