Maybe this is a dumb question since the companies are public, but where exactly do you go to get quarterly reports and stuff? What other information channels do you rely on, when it comes to gathering data for an investment? Just thanks in advance for kicking in whatever time it takes you to reply, man...
Online papers like the WSJ, CNN finance, etc. You can also take a look at their annual report to see how the company's doing.
The main source for all corporate reports is the SECs EDGAR database. Whenever a publicly traded company files any type of report, they do it on EDGAR. Google it- you can search all types of reports, disclosures, etc. if you maintain an account with any of the online brokers, you have access to all sorts of tools that enable you to find, filter and compare investment opportunities. What to look at depends on your investing objectives and what you find valuable as a resource. For example, if you're basing your investments on technical analysis, youll find plenty of charting tools and technical analysis stats/commentary.
There are financial publications that have detailed info on the companies, so it depends on which markets are you investing. Nothing like having our own sources though.
For me the quarterly reports are the most important. You can find them from Edgar but it's much faster and easier (in my opinion) to get them directly from the company website. Pretty much all public companies have a nice little "investors" tab which has the reports and other info. Also Seeking Alpha is a great place to follow up on what others are writing about that company, but those are of course only opinions so you need to do some thinking of your own when reading these articles.
Yeah, I'd stick to the factual information that is filed with the SEC and reported by reputable sites for making decisions. Learn to differentiate between facts and opinions, and take opinions with a grain of salt. Opinions are often speculative, and everyone has one. Consider the source of any opinion. If it's Warren Buffett, he's probably gonna be right. If it's some hack writer who is often wrong, I'd ignore whatever he's babbling about. For instance, some will opine on this or that company as being a possible takeover target or a big mover in the future for whatever reason or whatnot. But if the company doesn't look attractive on paper, doesn't have anything special going for it, doesn't have any institutional interest, etc - the "opinion" may be wrong. But if you see that the company has unique or innovative products, strong competitive advantages, is experiencing explosive sales growth, accelerated earnings and margins, has lots of free cash, sudden significant interest from big institutions, etc - it may be a winner.
This is the case for companies listed in an US market only, correct? Awesome pointers to start getting busy with reading them quarterly reports! As always, thank very much gentetleman!
The best place is to check out their websites. I do not think there can be any better alternative. It is the best place to find information.
Yes of course. Other countries have similar systems set up, but as I said you will often find most things you need on the company website under the investors tab. And if you can't find what you are looking for, the last resort is always to email the company (usually something like [email protected]) and they should be able to help you out.
