Favourite Investing Websites

By David Carle

I'm always interested in hearing about the various websites that investors use and recommend. So, to start the process, here is a brief description of some of the websites that I use (and in some cases subscribe to) as well as one that I no longer use.

 

My primary resource is Stockopedia.com which provides detailed analysis of companies (for the regions - e.g. UK or USA - that one subscribes to). It also has its proprietary stock ranks (a composite value based on values for Quality, Value and Momentum) which provide an "at a glance" indication of the merits of a stock. Just by choosing investments with a high Stock Rank (e.g. 90-99) can provide a very simple but effective stock picking strategy. The site also includes investment advice and analysis of company results as well as news articles and a powerful charting facility. Stockopedia offer a free trial after which it costs £245 per year. This may seem expensive but can easily be covered by the gains on  just one investment.

 

The second site I use sometimes is www.nakedtrader.co.uk which is essentially the trading diary of Robbie Burns, who is an extremely successful stock trader. He provides a monthly newsletter where he talks about the shares he has bought and sold, and why. One could piggy-back off his ideas, although you won't know when he sells until a while afterwards. I would also recommend his books (very easy to read but with valuable information) as well as his courses (beginners and intermediate levels). Normally they are held at a hotel near Heathrow airport, but during lockdown they have been on Zoom. They come at a significant cost, but I think they are very worthwhile for what you learn (I have attended several of his seminars in person plus one online).

 

Site number three is www.ShareProphets.com run by financial journalist Tom Winnifrith. He takes great delight in exposing dodgy companies and directors at the darker end of the investment world (and especially the lower end of AIM). He is in desperate need of a proof reader as some of his typos are terrible, but once you get used to his acerbic writing style he does provide interesting and useful information, as well as some stock tips. The site was the first to highlight the problems with the Woodford Funds, years before any of the mainstream press reported issues. I pay £5.99 per month for access, and am happy to do this because one of his articles prompted me to sell my shares in a company just before it crashed, saving me hundreds of pounds.

 

For researching funds, I typically use www.trustnet.com and www.morningstar.co.uk, both of which are great at providing financial analysis but without any recommendations.

 

Occasionally I take a look at www.advfn.co.uk which gives a glimpse of how websites used to look in the olden days. At least it's now in colour but it does look dreadfully old fashioned. Once you get used to the layout of the site, you'll find company information, bulletin boards and a whole host of other information including their Toplists feature - some of these are free and some require a subscription (which I don't have). For advanced investors it also provides "Level 2" information which shows the pending buy and sell orders for each company stock (I've seen this demonstrated by Robbie Burns but don't trade often enough to justify paying for this service).

 

To see company news as soon as its issued, rather than reading about it a week later, I sometimes use the Regulatory News Service (RNS) feature on www.londonstockexchange.com. Companies often release news (including results and forecasts) around 7am each weekday. This information is also available at https://www.lse.co.uk/rns/

 

Years ago I used to subscribe to Motley Fool ( www.fool.co.uk ) but I got so annoyed with the incessant adverts on each posting that I never look at it nowadays.

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