Investor Develops A Better Way To Research Stocks

By Roy MacNaughton

How many hours did you spend last month wading through the data quagmire -- that unending labyrinth of data dealing with all the various aspects of those stocks you're following? If you're one of those who like to manage his or her own portfolio and are interested in the Canadian Junior Mining and Oil & Gas Industries; or if you're a financial adviser with clients interested in these sectors, you've experienced the problem—the interminable waste of valuable time, pouring over charts, tables, financial documents and websites, when accessing economic, industry and company data on the Internet.

Soon we'll be suffering from a form of 'stock-market-attention-to-data-deficit-syndrome' ourselves. In July, 2007 approximately 17% of the current world population of some 6.6 billion people were Internet users; approximately 70% of North Americans were online. I've seen a private study that suggests that in late 2005, approximately 80% of all retail stock market investors did at least some stock research on the Internet, and that this percentage was growing each year.

In January, 2007, one investor commissioned some very special, proprietary research in both the U.S. and Canada. Among other things, it asked how much time respondents spent researching stocks on the Internet. His intuition told him people must be spending a lot of time online. He learned 80% of those retail investors surveyed in the U.S.A. and Canada spent up to 10 hours per month, researching stocks, bonds and other financial affairs on the Internet. I think you'll agree it's reasonable to assume that 80% of all retail investors don't manage their own portfolios. They assist or collaborate perhaps; but mostly they rely on the expertise of an Investment Adviser for assistance.

So why are these people online researching and investigating equities? The answer perhaps lies in the fact that they also asked these same respondents a few questions about how they felt regarding their own investment advisers. The answers were illuminating to be sure! Let's just say these 80% are not taking any chances. They want to know exactly what is happening with their portfolio and how to ensure that their own IA stays on the ball with their financial affairs.

This same investor – who does manage his own portfolio – decided to conduct more research to see if the market needed and would be willing to pay for a unique membership web site that would take the data – the stuff that drives most of us crazy – and properly organize it in a way that he had not seen done before. Now those who wanted to manage their own portfolio, or just keep an eye on it; or who have an IA working with them, could do a more organized job of it...much faster.

He had found that when managing his own portfolio, most of the data he encountered was not particularly well organized; it was somewhat awkward and hence time consuming to use. Having been an influential corporate valuation expert for more than three decades, his personal portfolio work underscored the realization that the way information was ordered on most of these sites or databases, wasn't ideal to say the least. It certainly was not provided in the way a Corporate Acquirer would organize a data base for an acquisition target - nor were the questions a Corporate Acquirer asks (and available answers) available and readily accessible on a company by company basis. If you're going to investigate whether or not to acquire a corporation, you're going to want to organize your data in a certain way to expedite and improve the accuracy of your analysis.

If you're buying stocks in a company, in a sense you are acquiring the company, so why not use similar, professional methods of data organization and accuracy? This approach would be even more beneficial if it speeds up the process, while improving the accuracy of the results.

©Copyright, Roy MacNaughton, 2007

Read more detail about the questions – and answers – asked in the surveys conducted by the investor mentioned above, by going to: http://www.stockresearchddblog.com Roy MacNaughton is a business writer and coach. He’s a seasoned marketer, with more than 25 years of international experience, including eight years online. Visit his blog: http://www.UmarketingU.com

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Published at Sep, 27 '07 ; read 416 times;

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