Don't Buy Low … Buy High | 中文

by John Wightkin
November 10, 2009

Find out why you don't want to buy stocks at the 52-week low but rather at the 52-week high.

What's Up With This Market? | 中文

by John Wightkin
October 13, 2009

A look at what's driving this market. Plus, find out which strategies to consider next.

Don't Be Surprised This Reporting Season | 中文

by John Wightkin
September 15, 2009

Find out how surprise anticipation can help you this earnings reporting season.

Reaching for Yield Without Getting Burned | 中文

by John Wightkin
August 11, 2009

We show income investors looking for stocks with high dividend yields how to pick those likely to perform best.
 

Schwab Equity Ratings Foundations

by Greg Forsythe, CFA, Senior Vice President, Schwab Equity Ratings®, Schwab Center for Financial Research
August 4, 2009

An 8-part series to help you use the Ratings in your stock picking. Learn about the stock characteristics we analyze, the traits of winners and losers, and frequently asked questions.
 

How You Can Utilize Stock Market Volatility

by Greg Forsythe, CFA, Senior Vice President, Schwab Equity Ratings®, Schwab Center for Financial Research
July 31, 2009

A volatility index, known as the VIX, can help you gauge future volatility. See examples of how to use the VIX in your stock strategy.
 

Demystifying Earnings Season

by the Schwab Center for Financial Research
Updated June 9, 2009

Schwab answers questions about how companies report their quarterly earnings.
 

Don't Let Strategy Skew Your Portfolio

by John Wightkin, Director of Equity Research Applications, Schwab Center for Financial Research
June 3, 2009

Why you should keep a sector-neutral stock allocation—and how to do it.

Are Your Stock Dividends Safe?

by John Wightkin, Director of Equity Research Applications, Schwab Center for Financial Research
April 21, 2009

How Schwab research may help you find stocks with more-reliable dividends, at a time when so many companies—including blue-chip stocks—are cutting them.

Stocks Q&A: We Answer Your Questions

by the Schwab Center for Financial Research
March 10, 2009

Answers to top questions about stocks, Schwab Equity Ratings®, stock prices, preferred stock and more.
 

What to Do When the Schwab Equity Rating Disappears

by Jeffrey P. Ryan, CFA, Senior Equity Researcher, Schwab Equity Ratings®, Schwab Center for Financial Research
March 3, 2009

What should you do if your stock's Schwab Equity Rating is modified by an asterisk or is replaced by an NR? Use our four-step research process to help decide your next move.
 

Understanding Exceptions to Schwab Equity Ratings

by Jeffrey P. Ryan, CFA, Senior Equity Researcher, Schwab Equity Ratings®, Schwab Center for Financial Research
December 23, 2008

What do NR, NA, NC or an asterisk mean? Learn how to interpret our ratings signage.
 

Don't Overpay Today for Growth Tomorrow

by Greg Forsythe, CFA, Senior Vice President, Schwab Equity Ratings®, Schwab Center for Financial Research
Updated November 17, 2008

Why it's such a common and costly investor mistake. How to avoid it.
 

Playing Defense: The Case for "Low-Beta" Stocks

by Greg Forsythe, CFA, Senior Vice President, Schwab Equity Ratings®, Schwab Center for Financial Research
October 1, 2008
 
How such a strategy can help cushion your equity portfolio in down markets. 
 

Are Stop-Loss Orders a Good Idea?

by Greg Forsythe, CFA, Senior Vice President, Schwab Equity Ratings®, Schwab Center for Financial Research
Updated September 8, 2008 
 
Many investors find stop-loss orders intuitively appealing. But there's no free lunch in investing—these price-triggered sell orders may not measure up to expectations.
 

Updated Schwab Industry Ratings

by Jeffrey P. Ryan, CFA, Senior Equity Researcher, Schwab Equity Ratings®, Schwab Center for Financial Research
August 27, 2008
 
Find out why we think they're even better, and the right way to use them.
 

Order Types: Getting to Know the Basics

by Randy Frederick, Director of Trading and Derivatives, Schwab Center for Financial Research
August 25, 2008

Whether you're buying or selling a security, the type of order you place can have a significant impact on the time, price or manner in which your order is executed.

Too Much of a Good Thing

by Mark Riepe, Senior Vice President, Schwab Center for Financial Research
July 25, 2008 
 
Beware of overloading on international equities.
 

Dividends: Myths and Realities

By Greg Forsythe, CFA, Senior Vice President, Schwab Equity Ratings®, Schwab Center for Financial Research 
July 25, 2008 
 
The rules of the game have changed. Find out what works—and what doesn't.
 

Schwab Equity Ratings Report Card

by John Zbesko, CFA, Senior Equity Researcher, Schwab Equity Ratings®, Schwab Center for Financial Research
July 9, 2008 
 
Learn when our ratings have worked best—and how to help make them work for you. 
 

Constructing a Diversified Stock Portfolio

by Greg Forsythe, CFA, Senior Vice President, Schwab Equity Ratings®, Schwab Center for Financial Research
July 8, 2008 
 
To minimize the impact of stock-specific risk, we recommended owning at least 40 stocks—far more positions than most investors hold.
 

How Many Stocks Should Be in Your Portfolio?

by Greg Forsythe, CFA, Senior Vice President, Schwab Equity Ratings®, Schwab Center for Financial Research
April 2, 2008 
 
For investors planning to manage a stock portfolio, a basic question is, 'How many should I hold?' The answer may surprise you. 
 

How to Bottom-Fish

by Greg Forsythe, CFA, Senior Vice President, Schwab Equity Ratings®, Schwab Center for Financial Research
March 6, 2008 
 
Cast your line wisely. Find out what hooks may work best. 
 

Investment Lessons From the World of Baseball

by Greg Forsythe, CFA, Senior Vice President, Schwab Equity Ratings®, Schwab Center for Financial Research
February 13, 2008 
 
What the Oakland A's learned about picking ball players and what Schwab learned about stock selection are that rigorous statistical analysis of game and investment outcomes can improve the odds of success. 
 

Cash Is King

by Greg Forsythe, CFA, Senior Vice President, Schwab Equity Ratings®, Schwab Center for Financial Research
October 2, 2007
 
Learn why some investors are attracted to the stocks of cash-rich firms. Plus, stocks we consider worthy of further research.
 

Following the "Smart Money"

by Greg Forsythe, CFA, Senior Vice President, Schwab Equity Ratings®, Schwab Center for Financial Research
September 28, 2007
 
The collective opinions of smart money investors are free and publicly available. Learn how to track their strategies.
 

Do You Have a Reason to Sell?

by Rande Spiegelman, CPA, CFP®, Vice President of Financial Planning, Schwab Center for Financial Research 
August 27, 2007
 
Buy, sell or hold? These are the eternal questions investors everywhere face. Here are three reasons to consider selling.
 

High Returns From Low Risk?

by Greg Forsythe, CFA, Senior Vice President, Schwab Equity Ratings®, Schwab Center for Investment Research®
June 1, 2007
 
Learn about the correlation between lower risk and higher returns. 
 

Considerations for Deciding When to Sell a Stock

by Greg Forsythe, CFA, Senior Vice President, Schwab Equity Ratings®, Schwab Center for Investment Research®
May 10, 2007

Successful stock investing requires a sell discipline to prevent hold/sell decisions from being driven by subjective criteria or emotions, rather than facts.
 

Tax Considerations for Selling a Stock

by Greg Forsythe, CFA, Senior Vice President, Schwab Equity Ratings®, Schwab Center for Investment Research®
May 10, 2007

How should capital gains taxes be factored into your decision to hold or sell a stock? Here are six aspects to consider.
 

Warren Buffett Misunderstood

by Greg Forsythe, CFA, Senior Vice President, Schwab Equity Ratings®, Schwab Center for Investment Research®
February 27, 2007

Beware of oversimplified 'Buffettologies.' How to use his investing wisdom properly.
 

Invest Like a Buyout King

by Greg Forsythe, CFA, Senior Vice President, Schwab Equity Ratings®, Schwab Center for Investment Research® 
February 14, 2007 
 
How to use a sophisticated valuation measure favored by the pros.
 

Know When to Sell

by Greg Forsythe, CFA, Senior Vice President, Schwab Equity Ratings®, Schwab Center for Investment Research®
December 28, 2006

No one likes a losing stock. So why do we cling to them for far too long?
 

Beware of Target Prices

by Jeffrey P. Ryan, CFA, Senior Equity Researcher, Schwab Equity Ratings®, Schwab Center for Investment Research®
September 28, 2006
 
Sell targets are wrong more than half the time. Buy targets can be pointless.
 

Cash Flow vs. Earnings: Which Is More Meaningful?

by Greg Forsythe, CFA, Senior Vice President, Schwab Equity Ratings®, Schwab Center for Investment Research®
September 18, 2006
 
Analysts and money managers argue that cash flow is a more useful metric of investment attractiveness than earnings. Is it?
 

Inside Earnings: Quality Is Key

by Brian L. Burda, CFA, Vice President, Senior Equity Researcher, Schwab Equity Ratings®, Schwab Center for Investment Research®
September 12, 2006
 
What's earnings quality? Some say it's impossible to define, but they know it when they see it. Schwab Equity Ratings takes a more disciplined approach.
 

Using Sentiment to Gauge Valuation

by Greg Forsythe, CFA, Senior Vice President, Schwab Equity Ratings®, Schwab Center for Investment Research®
August 8, 2006
 
If you believe the market is not perfectly efficient, how can you systematically determine whether a stock might be mispriced?
 

The Myth of Insider Trading

by Greg Forsythe, CFA, Senior Vice President, Schwab Equity Ratings®, Schwab Center for Investment Research®
July 25, 2006
 
Intrigued by insider trading? Our research shows there's a better way to gauge how top executives view their stock.
 

Breaking Even: Short-Term vs. Long-Term Capital Gains

by Rande Spiegelman, CPA, CFP®, Vice President of Financial Planning, Schwab Center for Investment Research® 
May 11, 2006 
 
Let us say you have a healthy short-term gain on paper. Should you sell now and pay short-term capital gains, or wait for the 15% long-term rate to kick in? 
 

Buy High and Sell Higher

by Greg Forsythe, CFA, Senior Vice President, Schwab Equity Ratings®, Schwab Center for Investment Research®
December 20, 2005
 
The closer a stock's current price is to its 52-week high, the stronger that stock's performance in the subsequent year.
 

Busting Market Myths

by Bryan Olson, CFA, Vice President, Head of Portfolio Consulting, Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. 
March 9, 2004
 
Investors are often bombarded with market myths, from the September effect to the Super Bowl theory. The truth is, you shouldn’t incorporate them into your investment planning process.
 

Finance 101: An Earnings Season Primer

Experts are always advising you to read companies’ financial statements. But why? What are they, and how can they make you a more informed investor?
 

Order Conditions: How They Can Affect Your Trade

Fill-or-kill? Good-til-canceled? Huh? Understanding trade order conditions can help you have more control over the time and execution of your trades.
 

What is the Statement of Cash Flows?

Like an up-to-date checkbook, a statement of cash flows shows where the money went and how much is left. Here’s how to decipher it.