Once you get out of the shopping malls, don’t forget to make sure you are diversifying. Buying a shoe company, a hat company, a jean company, a sock company, and a dress company is NOT exactly what we mean by diversificationA way of reducing the risk and variances in your portfolio returns by buying a variety of stocks across different industries, market caps, etc.! Often you might need to find a high dividend yielding stock, a small cap stock, and an international stock to complete your diversification mix. How will you accomplish this?
Thanks to the Internet and the wonderful amount of information you have at your fingertips, you can quickly scan 20,000 stocks in a matter of seconds if you know what you are looking for. Stock screeners can save you time by finding stocks in that meet certain financial or analytical measures you are looking for. Although some have more variables than others, all stock screeners work just about the same.
You decide on a mix of financial and investment preferences and parameters. You can then input this data and allow the stock screening software to locate securities that “fit” your perceived descriptions. With some freely available and others offered on a subscription basis, stock screeners are easy and convenient helpers.
While stock screeners operate with the same goal – finding stocks that match your wishes – you can choose different formats for results. Some will generate results on expected returns, riskThe expected variance of the returns of your investments., and projected yields, while others can offer stock suggestions based on growth, effective strategies, and other parameters.