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Originally Posted by gijoe9
Well Dave I agree with Blain on the tutorials at investopedia being a good place to start. I would mention that all types of analysis are about indicators and that if there was just one that worked then everyone would be using it to get rich. The P/E is an indicator of the relative value of a company compared to others. High P/E indicating less value and low indicating more value. But there are other factors to consider like the industry minning tends to have a low P/E <10 and Tech will have a high P/E >20 so how do you compare Microsoft (MSFT) to Southern Copper (PCU)? You can't really using P/E alone although you could use the industy averages to compare.
What I am really trying to illustrate here is that you need to learn how to compare apples and oranges when you are trolling for companies. I use a screener to find candidates for further investigation. In order to get the most from a screener I need to know and understand the different fundamental indicators and how they relate or mesh with each other. I also need to know what I am looking for Growth, Blue Chip, or other.
That is all I got to say for now. Good luck Dave and ask more questions when you need to.
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Great info! I'm sorry if I have so many questions but this kind of stuff gets my blood flowing...
Ok so the P/E ratio would be a good place to start but certainly not finish right? And you said that one P/E is good for one sector but not for another...is there a way to know exactly what the P/E level should be for any or all sectors? I mean not like a hard rule such as, "all tech should be above 20..." but like an example of where I should be measuring.
Ok this will sound dumb, but, when you say "screener" do you mean something you personally look for or something like a piece of computer software that helps you? I'm really confused on that.
Oh and one more thing. While on Yahoo finance looking up stocks I noticed that it says the industry leaders (for that one industry of course) for PEG were actually pretty high, like above 2 sometimes. I thought that a good PEG was supposed to be below 1? Was I misguided about PEG?
Thanks again for responding and taking the time to post. I look forward to learning even more from everyone.
Dave