SGX - Stock Facts

Stock Facts a commendable effort by SGX

One of the biggest problems beginner investors face is to figure out what stock to buy. To do so, they need resources to understand the market in a comprehensive way. They might have an eye on a promising food and beverage stock, for example. They might, through the Bloomberg and Yahoo Finance websites, already have a quick sense of the company's revenues, profits, cashflows, price to earnings ratios, and price history. But how does the stock compare to similar businesses on the market, or around the world? An investing decision should not be made in isolation.

A stock might look fundamentally strong, but might not be relatively cheap. A business might be dominant in fast-growing Asia, but a competitor could have the edge everywhere else and is trading at a more reasonable earnings ratio.

Shortcomings of Stock Facts include the inability to screen for stocks using more than five parameters, as well as the lack of a way to set up customized watch lists of companies to track over time. Retail investors looking to screen stocks using a wider array of technical and fundamental analysis criteria would arguably be better served using the more powerful screener of Share Investor.

Nevertheless, Stock Facts is a commendable effort by SGX. It is even more urgent now that retail investors are wooed back into the market, following a lack lustre year that saw securities daily traded values fall by over 20 per cent on average. Now, retail investors have a new cause for cheer.

Get personalized advice and recommendations on your investment. Get 3 Days Free Trial in STOCKS, FOREX & COMEX.