Searching For Answers

Many stocks have gone down recently and whenever that happens I receive numerous emails along the lines of "My stock is down - do you know why?"

In general, there are three reasons why stocks fall: 1) a company-specific news item (like earnings, rumors, analyst revisions, etc.), 2) a sector-specific news (like a company in the same sector reporting significant good or bad news), and 3) market-specific situation (many stocks fall in a correction whether deserved or not). When trying to figure out if a stock has been damaged due to some news-related event, there are five main sources I rely on:

• Briefing.com: Their ticker search is fast and helpful. That will pull up any news-related event for most stocks (upgrades, downgrades, earnings, etc.). However, if the stock is not widely followed, it may not show up.

• MarketWatch: This service is free, but if you want to know the latest buzz, their search engine can prove useful. I just usually enter the ticker symbol and look over the links presented.

• The Fly On The Wall: Works the same way as Briefing.com, but there are times that one will pick up a news-related item that the other has not. There is a bit of an overlap, but one of the main reasons I use the Fly is its tight integration with Quotetracker. Essentially, any news-related item on any stock I'm watching tags an automatic alert which I can access through a simple click.

• PR Newswire: In some stocks, especially ones that don't receive a lot of attention from Wall Street or analysts, you'll have run a search at the press release websites. This is the most time-consuming option, but if a stock is really acting up, you may want to do some searching there.

• EDGAR Database: It takes time and a bit of knowledge about what to look for, but the EDGAR database is also a helpful resource. Over the past few years, their search functions have really improved making this a useful resource.