Author Topic: Reccomendations For Market Research Tools (for a Canadian)  (Read 6248 times)

AJDZee

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Reccomendations For Market Research Tools (for a Canadian)
« on: September 22, 2013, 09:05:47 AM »
Can anyone recommend what site they use for stock research?

For basic stock research (price, history, dividend, etc) I've been using Yahoo Finance for years - I'm used to the look/functionality of it... but I'm fed up with it because as I'm switching to more dividend investing.
Yahoo Finance doesn't have dividend information for a lot (all?) of stocks on Canadian markets.

I've dabble with Google Finance and it's ok... I don't like the look of it, but it has most of the info I need and has a stock screener.

Which brings me to the second market research tool I'm looking for - can anyone recommend a good stock screener they like a lot?

I hate to make a separate forum topic about this - I'm sure there's a topic already on here, but my search isn't bringing anything up in the first few pages.

daverobev

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Re: Reccomendations For Market Research Tools (for a Canadian)
« Reply #1 on: September 22, 2013, 10:33:55 AM »
http://tmx.quotemedia.com/screener.php?locale=EN

Not the best but has a nice set of links http://www.topyields.nl/Top-dividend-yields-of-TSX60.php

Helpful if you're into DRIPs http://www.dripprimer.ca/canadiandriplist

From topyields, I started using FT http://markets.ft.com/research/Markets/Overview - just be patient with the search box, it takes an age to update for me. And, use :TOR if you know the symbol, not .TO. So BCE:TOR will get you to Bell. It does not do ETFs, though. And the links for news all go to a paywall.

AJDZee

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Re: Reccomendations For Market Research Tools (for a Canadian)
« Reply #2 on: September 26, 2013, 09:31:22 AM »
http://tmx.quotemedia.com/screener.php?locale=EN

Not the best but has a nice set of links http://www.topyields.nl/Top-dividend-yields-of-TSX60.php

Helpful if you're into DRIPs http://www.dripprimer.ca/canadiandriplist

From topyields, I started using FT http://markets.ft.com/research/Markets/Overview - just be patient with the search box, it takes an age to update for me. And, use :TOR if you know the symbol, not .TO. So BCE:TOR will get you to Bell. It does not do ETFs, though. And the links for news all go to a paywall.

Thanks for the resources!

The first stock screener didn't work the first time I ran something, but maybe i'll spend some time playing around with it.

That drip site is also very neat, thanks for sharing! I know my online brokerage (questrade) has a DRIP program - is it the same thing if I sign up with questrade for drip as if I sign up with the corporation. I noticed there are a few that offer small  discounts for reinvested dividends. Good to know.

daverobev

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Re: Reccomendations For Market Research Tools (for a Canadian)
« Reply #3 on: September 26, 2013, 01:27:57 PM »
No, Questrade and (I believe) other brokers only offer the synthetic drip. In short - no perks (2% discount on shares bought with dividend reinvestments, for example), and only whole shares.

With Computershare and Canadian Stock Transfer Co you can hold fractions of shares (eg $0.31 dividend bought me a tiny fraction of an Enbridge share, so I have 8.3225 shares or something), but with Questrade you'd have to have enough shares so you got a full integer number of shares. So say the stock is $30, the quarterly dividend is $0.30, you'd need 100 shares to get a single one - or $3k worth!

Tim Hortons is an easy one to start DRIPing as they allow you to buy the first share directly from them, but they - unlike most others - charge a fee for each transaction. I could probably figure out how to sell you a starter share in a few companies but I kinda like having the actual share :) And there are plenty of people on the DRIP forums who will sell you one!

Oh, drip forum for buying shares is: http://dripinvesting.org/boards/BoardMsgs.asp?BID=8

AJDZee

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Re: Reccomendations For Market Research Tools (for a Canadian)
« Reply #4 on: September 26, 2013, 01:35:56 PM »
You're right about QT, they do not purchase fractions on drip - something I wish I knew before signing up. The brokerage my company uses to distribute employee shares allows for fractional shares.

Thanks again for this - I will have to look up more about these forums.

aclarridge

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Re: Reccomendations For Market Research Tools (for a Canadian)
« Reply #5 on: September 26, 2013, 02:42:53 PM »
You guys do know that institutional investors have far superior information via services like Bloomberg and Reuters, right? Why not use a passive management index-based strategy through low-cost ETFs?

Just don't want you guys getting burned when you seem to be at such a basic level of market research. My 2c. :)

daverobev

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Re: Reccomendations For Market Research Tools (for a Canadian)
« Reply #6 on: September 26, 2013, 06:39:05 PM »
You guys do know that institutional investors have far superior information via services like Bloomberg and Reuters, right? Why not use a passive management index-based strategy through low-cost ETFs?

Just don't want you guys getting burned when you seem to be at such a basic level of market research. My 2c. :)

Well, OP didn't mention what screen they'd be running! Value investing is... certainly an option. Finding a screen that will give me companies trading at or below book value? Mmm!

Now, I mostly have stuff in ETFs (actually I mostly own a house in the UK, but that's a different matter), but I like the idea of DRIPs. And also being a contrarian investor.

And I also don't believe institutional investors do much good with all this extra info ;) Hedge funds underperform the index, generally, I believe.

So - I'm answering the question, not providing advice, or at least that's what I was trying to do!

aclarridge

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Re: Reccomendations For Market Research Tools (for a Canadian)
« Reply #7 on: September 27, 2013, 09:38:18 AM »
That's true. I just don't think trying to pick stocks using say Yahoo/Google finance alone is a good idea and was concerned for my fellow mustachians :)

Sorry to derail the thread a bit, but why do you like DRIPs? At first I thought great, it reduces my trading commissions - win! Then I realized that during the accumulation phase, I just do my buying right after I get the dividends, and rebalance as part of my buying. It works out really well, since I pretty much do this quarterly anyway. I'm paying the trading commissions regardless, and having the extra cash from the dividends would just help me rebalance anyway.
Once reaching FI, I'll actually want to spend the money the dividends provide, so again, no point in doing a DRIP.

Also for foreign currency denominated securities (at least with my brokerage, for ETFs), you get charged their crappy FX rates twice when DRIPping (stupid cash grab, I know). Instead I pay it once when I receive the dividend, then roll the proceeds into a Norbert's gambit at rebalance time to get a cheap FX transaction.

daverobev

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Re: Reccomendations For Market Research Tools (for a Canadian)
« Reply #8 on: September 27, 2013, 11:24:25 AM »
Hmm, with Questrade I have it set to 'trade currency' so nothing gets converted unless I buy something and don't have cash in the right currency (this is different for margin accounts).

I only have Canadian DRIPs and I'm doing it for three reasons: 1 the enhanced dividend tax credit, 2 no commission or fees (except Tim's), 3 the perks - for example with Fortis I get a 2% discount on shares bought with the divi.

Snowboard junkie

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Re: Reccomendations For Market Research Tools (for a Canadian)
« Reply #9 on: September 29, 2013, 07:15:25 AM »
@FI40 : How do you execute the Norbert's Gambit on a practical level?

I have run into issues trying to sell stock on a different exchange immediately and being told that I have to wait 3 days for the transaction to clear...which obviously introduces volatility risk.

daverobev

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Re: Reccomendations For Market Research Tools (for a Canadian)
« Reply #10 on: September 29, 2013, 10:31:49 AM »
@FI40 : How do you execute the Norbert's Gambit on a practical level?

I have run into issues trying to sell stock on a different exchange immediately and being told that I have to wait 3 days for the transaction to clear...which obviously introduces volatility risk.

Can you buy DLR and journal it to DLR.U?

aclarridge

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Re: Reccomendations For Market Research Tools (for a Canadian)
« Reply #11 on: September 30, 2013, 08:19:07 AM »
Hmm, with Questrade I have it set to 'trade currency' so nothing gets converted unless I buy something and don't have cash in the right currency (this is different for margin accounts).

I only have Canadian DRIPs and I'm doing it for three reasons: 1 the enhanced dividend tax credit, 2 no commission or fees (except Tim's), 3 the perks - for example with Fortis I get a 2% discount on shares bought with the divi.

Cool - I am thinking about switching to Questrade.
1. Don't you get that regardless? There's no DRIP-only credit right? I'm not an expert but can't find anything about that.
2. True, but for somebody rebalancing quarterly, they're paying the commissions anyway. Also, at Questrade, ETF purchases are free I hear!
3. I don't know much about this. Is there a website that lists all the different perks you can get through DRIPs? 2% discount is ok, but if there are lots of other sweet deals it would be good to know.

@FI40 : How do you execute the Norbert's Gambit on a practical level?

I have run into issues trying to sell stock on a different exchange immediately and being told that I have to wait 3 days for the transaction to clear...which obviously introduces volatility risk.

I buy and sell on the same day. 3 days later, I end up with the USD funds in the account, and I use that to buy USD denominated securities. It has worked pretty well for me. I have done one exchange with $20k, another with $3.5k, and I'll be doing maybe $5-10k this week. The total cost each time (including $10 trading commissions) was $30 for the bigger one and $20 for the smaller one.

I am doing this in a TD Waterhouse RRSP account. If you are doing it any differently, call the traders first and make sure that method will work for you. I heard you can actually do all 3 trades on the same day and it works the same way. I also heard DLR/DLR.U work as well. Google canadian capitalist's article on this.

daverobev

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Re: Reccomendations For Market Research Tools (for a Canadian)
« Reply #12 on: September 30, 2013, 09:08:18 AM »
1. Yes, in an unregistered account. I don't have any unregistered accounts, except for Computershare/Can Stock Transfer DRIPs. If I had an unregistered account at Questrade I would get the ETC there too.

2. There is still a MER. Now, with the ETFs I buy, the MER is small. But when you buy individual stocks there is none (though obviously buying individual stocks is more risky).

3. http://www.dripprimer.ca/canadiandriplist look in the column "DISC". Only shares in a blue row are relevant (the others you can't buy through an OCP - optional cash purchase - meaning you have no cost-effective way of acquiring new shares).

There DRIPs are only open to people holding the shares directly, not through a brokerage.

aclarridge

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Re: Reccomendations For Market Research Tools (for a Canadian)
« Reply #13 on: September 30, 2013, 10:11:49 AM »
I think I still want to go the ETF route for my canadian equities, but thanks for all that information.

I made a little calculator to show how much it matters to have a DRIP discount. It can certainly add up over time. If not for the trading fees required to obtain and maintain a large enough portfolio for proper diversification, I'd be all over it.

Snowboard junkie

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Re: Reccomendations For Market Research Tools (for a Canadian)
« Reply #14 on: October 01, 2013, 09:04:05 PM »
Thanks very much.

daverobev

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Re: Reccomendations For Market Research Tools (for a Canadian)
« Reply #15 on: October 02, 2013, 11:23:48 AM »
Ah, yeah, the DRIPs are really a sideline, not the main deal... especially with Computershare now, you can do PAD (which you can't do with Questrade, though you can do automatic purchases with TD eSeries or other bank mutual funds) for certain shares.

It's more.. fun with benefits. Couch Potato is the One True Way (IMHO).