Researching a Company Using finance.yahoo.com
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Pick a company – Where to start? You might hear about a company from a coworker, friend, relative, listening to a T.V. show, radio, or read from a magazine or newspaper. Either way the important thing is to remember to follow up with some research before buying stock from that company.
- Go to htpp://www.finance.yahoo.com. Enter your company’s stock ticker. We will use General Motors (GM). After entering GM you may now begin the researching your company.
- From the summary page you have access to the following information: Last trade, 52 week range (hi and low stock price for the past 52 weeks), Market cap (size of company: large cap, mid cap or small cap), P/E (price to earnings ratio), EPS (earnings per share), along with other pertinent information. On the left hand side of the screen you will have other links such as: Historical prices (gives dividend information), Basic charts (graph of stock price), Headlines, Company news, Profile and other important links.
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Basic Charts – These charts will give you a visual of the company’s stock performance. Graphs are available for 5 days, 3 months, 6 months, 1 year, 5 years or maximum amount of time.
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Profile – This link will have a short company summary. It will also have a company phone number and web site.
- Company website – Go here to find the annual report (earnings, profit revenue, debt, how is the company’s overall financial well being?) You can also read about new and existing products and other company news. Financial statements can be found at the lower left of the summary and profile pages of the finance.yahoo website.
- When buying stock remember to have a sound plan. Keep in mind the following: Diversify, “know when to hold 'em, and know when to fold 'em”, and do not become emotionally attached.
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