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Eye on Your Money: March 12, 2007

March 12, 2007

Time now for Eye on Your Money with Financial Advisor Bryce Matteson of the local Oppenheimer & Co, Inc. office and if you are thinking about buying stocks, you have some help available. Not only with your financial advisor but analysts who cover stocks and industries they represent. Basically there are two types of analysis: technical and fundamental. 

Let talk about fundamental first. Fundamental analysis is the process of looking at a business at the basic or fundamental financial level. This type of analysis examines key ratios of a business to determine its financial health and gives you an idea of the value of the stock.

Many investors use fundamental analysis alone or in combination with other tools to evaluate stocks for investment purposes. The goal is to determine the current worth and, more importantly, how the market values the stock.

Fundamental analysts will look at many aspects of a particular stock, but the key to most is earnings - how much is the company making now, and how much is it going to make in the future.

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Many times in the media you will hear that a certain company met, fell short of or exceeded their expected earnings for a quarter.  The expectations are set by a consensus of analysts covering the stock.

The other type of analysis is technical.  Technical analysts are chart readers.  They plot trends in price and volume of companies and even the market as a whole to help them predict what could happen in the future. Are they always right?  Of course not, just as fundamental analysts are far less than perfect.

Some investors choose to use information gathered from both in helping them form their own opinions.

My advice to my clients is look at companies you know and understand and perhaps you even are a consumer of their product and service and invest in it.  Please remember, stocks carry risk and are not appropriate for everyone.  Again, check with your financial advisor to see if they have a place in your portfolio.

Oppenheimer and Co. Inc and Bryce Matteson do not provide tax or legal advice.  Consult with your attorney or tax consultant for such guidance. Now that we've talked about stocks and bonds, next week, we'll talk about something that has characteristics of both.

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