How to pick the right stock

How to pick up the right stock is perhaps the most difficult part of trading in the stock market. The second one is of course when to sell it. So here I will like to share with you some of the things I look into to find the right stock. There are a few important things to remember when you are looking for that right stock. First of all you have to make sure that the company you are investing in has a good business, it should be running a type of business that you have a belief in, the one that you think has a lot of growth prospects in the future. The second most important thing to make sure is that the company is profit making. You do not want to end up investing in a company making losses every other quarter. There may come some bad days but largely the company should be profit making and showing growth consistently. The next thing you should look for is that company is largely debt free or at least have a debt to equity ratio under control. The payment of debt eats up a chunk of the profits and really badly impacts the financials. You should always invest in a company that has its debt under control and is doing proper utilisation of its resources. The company should also have a good management looking around the business, the management you can put your trust into. The company should have a healthy promoter shareholding and very less or no amount of pledged shares. This is to make sure that the promoters have their heart and soul into the company. Finally the price to earning ratio of the stock be not so much overvalued that it leaves no room for further growth. You should always look for stocks with attractive pe valuations and what is your opportunity cost.

World's largest gold reserves

Here is the list of countries with the largest gold reserves in the world :

Data : As at January 2015 (based on World gold council data)
Source : Wikipedia

1. USA : 8133.5 tonnes

2. Germany : 3384.2 tonnes

3. Italy : 2451.8 tonnes

4. France : 2435.4 tonnes

5. Russia : 1206.8 tonnes

6. China : 1054.1 tonnes

7. Switzerland : 1040 tonnes

8. Japan : 765.2 tonnes

9. Netherlands : 612.5 tonnes

10. India : 557.7 tonnes

World's top 10 companies by market capitalisation

These companies are the Stock markets biggest gems. List of top 10 companies by market capitalisation :

List up to date as of 31 december, 2014.
Source : wikipedia.org

1. Apple : 647.36 billion $'s (USA)

2. Exxon Mobil : 391.48 billion $'s (USA)

3. Microsoft : 382.88 billion $'s (USA)

4. Berkshire Hathaway : 370.65 billion $'s (USA)

5. Google : 329.77 billion $'s (USA)

6. Petrochina : 305.54 billion $'s (CHINA)

7. Johnson & Johnson : 292.70 billion $'s (USA)

8. Wells Fargo : 284.39 billion $'s (USA)

9. Wal-Mart : 276.81 billion $'s (USA)

10. ICBC : 271.15 billion $'s (CHINA)

Apple

Apple a 700 billion dollar company, how far it is to be a trillion dollar company. See this article.

Article

Gold

Gold is currently trading at 1226 dollar/oz levels.

News
Central banks looking to buy gold
Russia on gold

Stocks trading at insane pe ratios

Here are some stocks from the US Stock markets that are trading at really high price to earning ratios:

1. Facebook (FB) :  pe ratio: 68.35

2. Adobe systems (ADBE) : pe ratio: 137.28

3. Autodesk (ADSK) : pe ratio: 110.17

4. Alexion pharmaceuticals (ALXN) : pe ratio: 54.11

5. Avago technologies (AVGO) : pe ratio: 108.34

6. Celgene corp (CELG) : pe ratio: 50.28

7. Cerner corporation (CERN) : pe ratio: 53.97

8. eBay (EBAY) : pe ratio: 1493.78

9. Equinix (EQIX) : pe ratio: 80.70

10. Illumina inc (ILMN) : pe ratio: 81.86

Facebook, Apple

Facebook closed at 75.19 yesterday, up by 1.01 %. The current market capitalisation of the stock is 210.46 billion dollars. The stock is currently trading at a price to earning ratio of 68.35. Apple closed yesterday at 122.02, up by 1.92 %. The current market capitalisation of the stock is 710.74 billion dollars. The stock is currently trading at a price to earning ratio of 16.52.

US Stock markets, OIL, Gold

US stock markets closed with some good gains yesterday. Dow Jones closed up by 139.55 points (+0.79%) at 17868.76. Gold is trading  flat at 1238.10 (0.48%). OIL remains to trade near 50 odd levels. It is currently trading at 50.41, up buy 0.78 %.

15 Short Points to glory in Stock Market for Beginners

15 Short Points to glory in Stock Market for Beginners

1. Always be patient in Stock Market. You will always get a better price.
2. Never try to time the market when investing/ When “INVESTING” timing the market is a bad bad thing
3. Always try to stay in Liquid stocks.
4. Never try to chase the herd.
5. Diversify your portfolio.
6. Penny can shine only once in a while/blue moon.
7. When a stock owner you are a part owner of the business.
8. News can impact a particular stock for a short period of time.
9. Perform due deligence on stocks before buying DONOT take others advice for gauranteed.
10. Buying a stock is only half job done. Deciding when to sell is equally important.
11. Dont always let greed overcome your decision making power.
12. Buy in stock by keeping future prospects in mind.
13. You cannot earn all the money in one day.
14. You will hardly find a good quality stock at cheap valuations.
15. Stocks can show irrational movements. Do not lose confidence stick to your strategy.

Crude oil

WTI Crude closed above 51 levels at 51.69 usd/bbl.