This section describes the investment Information Sources used to gather data for making asset picks.
Firm Information Sources
Publicly held firms are required by both fed and state laws to publish annual and quarterly reports. Although firms mail printed copies, the most efficient way to access them is through the internet starting with the firm’s website. Key data points of info include:
- Investor’s overview
- Broker coverage
- Year end reports
- Firm governance
- Payout record
- Earnings guesses
- PR releases
- Basic measures
- SEC filings
- Stock purchase plans
The year end report is the very key though the view is biased. It contains a letter to shareholders and financial statements including balance sheet, income statement and statement of cash flows. A more complete version is filled with SEC– 10K and 10Q. Very little else is released from the firm due to fed laws and handling of insider info.
Broker Research Reports
Most brokers provide you with research on stocks. The purpose is to point out stocks who will grow. However, you should not take broker picks at face value.
They mostly say buy and are conflicted by the bias to earn commissions and i banking fees. They are still a good source of info when used with other sources.
Publications
The foremost daily paper is the Wall Street Journal. Barron’s is published weekly. It posts articles of interest to the community and they issue iadvisory reports.
A variety of mags also report news
- Money
- Business Week
- Forbes
- Fortune
More pro oriented mags include
- Journal of Finance
- Harvard Business Review
- Journal of Portfolio Management
- Financial Analysts Journal.
Advisory services include
- Standard and Poor’s, an independent third-party provider, offers a service featuring industry and company reports
- Morningstar, which started out on MFs now covers stocks.
- Value Line Investment Survey looks at the key firms traded on major exchanges over a three month cycle.
Government
The US government publishes a large amount of info helpful to investors. These publications include Survey of Current Business, Business Conditions Digest, Economic Report of the President, Annual Report of the Council of Economic Advisers and Federal Reserve Bulletin.
Als, visit these topics for further detail. Finally,return to the Basics page:
- Basics Introduction
- Stock Markets
- Theory
- Investment Firms
- Stock Valuation
- Macroeconomics
- Statements
- Bond Market
- Foreign
The info on this Information Sources page and Investment Basics pages were drawn from Dave’s lecture notes for the Investments for Pros course taught at UCLA 1998-2005 and three decades of on the job. Also, see our Site Credits page for sources.
