Sunday, December 23, 2012

How To Be A Successful Investor In Stocks

When people buy stock of a company, the biggest misconception they have is that they are investing in one of the various investment options available, while the fact is that they are becoming one of the co-owners of the company. This investment option seems so tempting that people often directly take it on without any analysis. However, it takes a lot of effort for professional analysts to carry out fundamental analysis of stocks. This analysis gives an insight into the past performance and future potential of the company.

However, being a successful investor is also not rocket science. It just needs a bit of stock analysis and patience to meet your long term financial goals. To meet your long term financial goals through stock investing, you need to buy the stock at right price, wait for the time for it to appreciate, and then sell it out at the optimum time. Moreover, it pays you dividends along the way. Now the question arises, how do you do that?

Identify the right company to invest in, which will get you enough payback to meet your long term financial goals. This requires a bit of homework. You need to conduct the fundamental analysis of the intended company. Fundamental analysis involves the study of the earnings and growth of the company, its drivers, past performance, and future outlook..

The stock price is market-determined. It rises and falls everyday according to the current market conditions or the daily fluctuations in the economic conditions. However, it is the fundamental health of the company which determines its long term financial prospects. It is not always necessary that companies which perform well financially, also prevail in the news. The job of an analyst involves identifying such companies and looking at the long term performance expectations. Though, this won't guarantee continuous growth or 100% profitability, but such stock analysis will decrease the risk involved.

If we look at the daily price chart of the stock, the trend may indicate a direction. But it is not always advisable to track it daily unless you are a day trader. Stock prices are largely driven by market sentiments, and investor perception. Hence, they do not reflect the true worth of a company's stock. Fundamental analysis helps deduce the intrinsic value or true worth of a company. Apart from that, one should always keep an eye on the business cycle and the impact of competition affecting the company.

To become a successful investor in stocks, one needs to avoid committing some mistakes. One should avoid enthusiasm and not just keep buying the stock blindly. It is always better to first consolidate the position of your stocks before expanding or venturing into other sectors or stocks. Locking your gains will make sure that you are at a lesser risk. Sector analysis is a better way to filter out your trading preference and increase your earning prospects.

A stock's price showing an upward trend on a particular day doesn't mean that the stock will do well in long term too. This is the time, when you need to know the truth through fundamental analysis of the stock.

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