magazine archive
magazine archive
Education
Expert Investor: Why you should look at free cash flow when assessing stocks
Thursday 27 May 2021It’s often said that profits are an opinion, only cash is fact. Plenty of businesses that have appeared healthy on standard accounting measures have ended up failing due to a lack of cash flow, as documented by Terry Smith three decades ago in his book Accounting For Growth and more recently by Tim...
What are dividends and why do they matter?
Thursday 13 May 2021When you buy a share in a company you are literally buying a share in its future earnings. As an ordinary shareholder, you are entitled to vote at the company’s annual general meeting and any extraordinary meetings that are called, to buy more shares when the company has a pre-emptive rights issue...
The stocks and indices that matter in Japan
Thursday 27 Feb 2020This is the fourth of a multi part series on global indices. Part one covered the UK’s FTSE 100 and FTSE 250, part two included the S&P 500 and Nasdaq in the US and part three looked at the Euro Stoxx 50 and DAX 30 indices in Europe. Tokyo’s stock exchange has origins dating back to 1878 making...
The stocks and indices which matter when investing in Europe
Thursday 20 Feb 2020This is the third of a multi part series. Part one covered the FTSE 100 and FTSE 250. Part two covered the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite indices. For investors looking to invest directly in European markets, the Euro Stoxx 50 is the leading index of blue-chip stocks from across the Eurozone,...
Stocks and sectors that move the S&P 500 and NASDAQ
Thursday 13 Feb 2020When people talk about US stock markets they are usually referring to the Standard and Poors (S&P 500) index. One reason why it’s so popular is that it represents around 80% of the whole US stock market. S&P 500 Over $10tn of assets are benchmarked to the index including $3.4tn of indexed...
The stocks that move the FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 indices
Thursday 06 Feb 2020If you have ever wondered about what purpose stock market indices serve, how they work or just wanted to know how they relate to investing, we have the answers. Over the coming weeks we will cover all the main global indices, starting with the most recognised UK market benchmarks. We will discuss...
How to find a list of companies quoted on the stock market
Thursday 06 Feb 2020In the past, if you wanted to find a list of companies quoted on the stock market – say you fancied investing in a pub firm or a widget-maker – you probably had to pay a research firm for the information. Today, there are plenty of free resources which can do the same job without you having to fork...
Using the Portfolio X-Ray tool to better understand your investments
Thursday 30 Jan 2020A reader has asked if we could explain how to interpret the information from Morningstar’s Portfolio X-Ray tool used on AJ Bell Youinvest’s website and available from Morningstar directly. This article offers our thoughts on the usefulness, strengths and weaknesses of the tool. We have also created...
What does a high share price mean?
Thursday 23 Jan 2020A lot of investors presume that a stock priced at £10 is much more expensive than something priced at 250p. Yes, you need more money to buy a single share, but you can’t learn anything about how the equity is valued from its share price. Classic methods of valuing a company include comparing a...
The difference between bottom-up and top-down investing
Thursday 16 Jan 2020All investors want to make money from equity markets but you can go about it in many different ways. Styles like growth, value and income are widely understood, as are buying shares directly or using funds or investment trusts. And within the wider funds space there is the age-old debate about...