Shortlist stocks

Hi all,

I am new to share market and trying to learn. Read many posts here and learnt a lot. THANKS.

Just have a question which still I am not clear on it (for long-term investment)
How should I screen the companies and short-list them? How do you guys do it? Do you start with a specific measure? Do you use any website/tools for that?

Thanks

Share2020 said:

Hi all, I am new to share market and trying to learn. Read many posts here and learnt a lot. THANKS. Just have a question which still I am not clear on it (for long-term investment) How should I screen the companies and short-list them? How do you guys do it? Do you start with a specific measure? Do you use any website/tools for that? Thanks

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Free Screener
@Share2020 welcome to our community & let me answer your question on how to screen companies & short-list them. For a free alternative, you can use https://www.tradingview.com/screener/ but make sure you select the country that you are interested in & in this case I've selected Australia found beneath the red arrow.



Long-term investment
LIC's maybe your starting point to get your "foot in the door" when it comes to trading for a long term investment. LIC's compared to trading don't have the same returns because of the way they are structured but it's a safe (as can be) passive way of investing, they are dividend investors for a better word. They are long term holders of the big low volatility companies (they play it safe) with low volatility normally goes hand in glove with low returns. Investing funds in licensed investment companies (LIC's) has the ability to give investors a greater sense of stability, security & peace of mind knowing funds are professionally managed, a vehicle that would get you started in the markets & they trade just like any other share. Argo (ASX: ARG) https://www.argoinvestments.com.au/ and Australian Foundation Investment Company (ASX: AFI) https://www.afi.com.au/ are two funds that have been constant dividend performers & prices at the moment indicates capital growth could be on the cards as well.

Set & Forget Investing
This investment strategy, investing for dividends, is a simple ‘set-and-forget’ style of investing, it’s easy and stress free, over time there is a double whammy, dividends and capital gains. The dividends can be reinvested through their dividend reinvestment plan (DRP) or you can have the dividends paid into your bank account for living expenses, it’s up to you to decide how the dividends are dispersed.

Investing can be scary
No investment strategy is safe, but this style of investing is on the safer side, on the lower scale of risk. LIC’s are safer than most other investment vehicles because they have pooled funds that are professionally managed and they aren’t affected by member withdrawals as they are ‘closed funds’.

Help is only one post away
The Aussie Stock Forum is chock full of members who are only willing to help if you have any questions.

I've got a great idea
In the meantime check out my educational thread. Education is key when investing.

Read my 'Dump it here' thread
The 'Dump it here' thread starts here: https://www.aussiestockforums.com/posts/1005967/
Investing is what you have asked about but if you want to know what's trading is all about it can be found here: https://www.aussiestockforums.com/posts/1040134/

Just for you - a free eBook (to get you started)
Trading Fundamentals - Skate's Beginners Version eBook
https://www.aussiestockforums.com/posts/1014728/

All the best...

Skate.

My process is to use something like morningstar or commsec to apply a really coarse filter, eg exclude sectors like mining & resources, loss making, higher debt - you quickly narrow the investible universe in the ASX! Then I use QuickFS for a deeper dive. That usually gets me to a manageable shortlist to start reading annual reports, 4C's etc and work up a written analysis based on my research including a range of valuation.

I will also do a quick check of companies I see mentioned by investors I hold in high regard on places like ASF & Twitter. I also subscribe to small fund newsletters and reports ot investors as they can be a useful source of ideas.

The trick with ideas from others is to avoid falling for the narrative, and work out what the business actually does, measure its financial health, find competitive advantage, calculate a range of value and develop conviction for myself.

Thanks Skate for the warm welcome.
Thanks galumay for the comment.

Share2020 said:

Thanks Skate for the warm welcome.
Thanks galumay for the comment.

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Hi Share2020, great to see new members.
The advice Skate and galumay have given you is sound advice, as you would expect from seasoned investors.
As they have said, be honest with yourself, investing is a scary path to travel. So make sure you understand your own risk tolerance, there is nothing worse for an investor than panic buying, panic selling or loss of sleep. The more research you do, the more comfortable you will be with your stock selections.
I'm more an investor like galumay, than a trader like Skate, it just suits my lifestyle and the time I have to devote to it.
So as galumay said work out which companies interest you, then research and watch them, I find it helps if the company does something I'm interested in then it makes reading their announcements more interesting.
Once you have found a few companies, there is a lot of discussion and interesting information on the forum, in the stock thread a-z just use the stock code in the search function on the home page.
Enjoy the forum and I hope you join in the discussions.

Thanks Sptrawler.
I agree that follwing the companies that interest me would be easier. I found the list of all companies on ASX but their categories are very general. Is there any specific list of companies with a brief description of what they are doing/producing?

Share2020 said:

Thanks Sptrawler.
I agree that follwing the companies that interest me would be easier. I found the list of all companies on ASX but their categories are very general. Is there any specific list of companies with a brief description of what they are doing/producing?

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A quick description is available usually on the summary page on your stock broker's website. For example I have highlighted in a red box the description for BHP Ltd: