There are many research tools available and many of them are free. Of course, there are some very sophisticated tools that come with hefty price tags; however, for most investors all the research they’ll need is free or available for a modest subscription.
Stock Screener
The most basic research tool is the stock screener. Some of the better ones come as part of subscription package. Basically, screeners identify stocks that meet the user criteria. Criteria can include industry type, market cap, sales, dividends, and so forth. The more sophisticated screeners provide more qualifiers. After you specify your qualifiers, the screener identifies the companies that meet your qualifications. If the list of companies is too large, you can run the screener again with more criteria. Sophisticated screeners will run follow up analysis on the set you just generated.