Consumer Skills / Stock Market Research/Ms Murray
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Every day millions of people try to identify the best stocks to buy. The stock market is
not a game. Successful investors do their homework. They spend weeks or months
researching a company using very sophisticated techniques plus low cost public information
before buying stock. The golden rule - never invest in stocks unless you are prepared to lose
money. There are no guarantees.
What information does an investor need to determine a good financial choice? There
are many techniques used to make a stock investment. Fundamental analysis involves knowing
the company’s current management and position in the market. Technical analysis focuses on
charts, trends, and forecast predictions.
1. Maintain a weekly stock chart for each company
a. Access Yahoo Finance, MSN Money News, CNN Money for stock info
b. Record opening and daily stock price. Record change in stock price-percentage
or monetary to indicate increase/decrease.
c. Identify and record volume of stock trade.
d. Summarize current stock news for each company
i. Include economic items related to the stock market
ii. Include any major political event during the week.
2. You will prepare a cover sheet for your company.
Include the following information.
a. Profile/business summary
b. Number of employees
c. Past performance
Highest and lowest stock price in the last ten years or maximum time span.
Include volume sold on these dates.
3. Your stock investment is 5,000 shares. Using the information collected above,
recommend whether to buy, sell, or hold onto the stock. Does the company have a
secure financial forecast? Can you support the forecast for the company?
4. Connect to http://money.msn.com/