Which stocks should I buy?

Questions

I want to trade stock. How do I find stocks to buy?

Several factors to consider when thinking of stocks to buy:

o How long can you wait?

o How much risk can you afford?

o How many stocks can you afford?

Price, Risk & Timeline

If you want to be conservative and keep your risk low, you should choose a few stable, blue-chip stocks like GE and hold them for a few years. The downside is that conservative stocks usually dont gain value very quickly.

On the other hand, if you want to take some risks and try some more volatile stocks you have a chance at making a larger and faster gain. A good example is to buy Google stock.

Some of the riskiest stocks you can buy are Penny Stocks. They can give you the highest return (or loss!) in the shortest amount of time. They are usually not stocks one wants to buy.

Search for stocks to buy based on price:

o See Stocks to Buy on our Popular Stocks page

Ensure and Increase Your Safety with Diversification

The more stocks you purchase, the more safe you will be in case one stock drops significantly. Experts often recommend 30 to 100 different stocks but that is often not practical to do. Of course, you will probably also make less money because some stocks will go up and some will go down. You will probably also want to buy from a few different industries so that you will be diversified in case one industry goes sour.

Price to Earnings Ratio

Many people like to use a companys P/E Ratio to determine whether its a good buy or not.

The Price to Earnings (profit) Ratio can give you an indication of how high a stocks price is relative to how profitable it is. The best thing to do is to compare one companys PE ratio to other companies in the same industry to see how high or low the price is. What can happen is many, many people can trade stock in a good company, which will cause the price to go much higher than its really worth.

See an example of Microsofts industry P/E ratios using Yahoo! Finance (scroll to the bottom).

Good Stocks for Long-Term Growth

Basically, you want to buy stocks that will go up in value over time. That may mean that you need to find some that are currently undervalued, using the PE Ratio or something similar. Or, you might look for companies that show potential to grow significantly over the next few years. But you should try to avoid buying stocks that are overpriced just because they are popular at the moment. That can lead to a quick loss! So its important to do your homework when looking for the best stocks to buy today.

Best stocks to Buy for Your Goals

The stocks to buy are the ones that fit your time frame and risk level. The experts in the stock market dont always have your best interests in mind so you may want to consider asking trusted friends and relatives if they know any good stocks to buy instead.