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. 
 

Schwab Equity Ratings® Foundations: Traits of Winners and Losers

by Greg Forsythe, CFA, Senior Vice President, Schwab Equity Ratings®, Schwab Center for Financial Research
April 2, 2008
 
How to find stocks that are likely to exceed or fall short of investor expectations.
 

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. 
 

The Power of Preferreds

by the Schwab Center for Financial Research
February 28, 2008

Think comparatively high yields, often low tax rates and diversification benefits. 
 

Order Types: What They Mean and How They're Handled

by the Schwab Center for Financial Research
February 27, 2008

Whether you're buying or selling, the type of order that you place can have a significant effect on the price you receive.
 

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. 
 

Selling Is Hard to Do

by Jeffrey P. Ryan, CFA, Senior Equity Researcher, Schwab Equity Ratings®, Schwab Center for Financial Research
January 3, 2008

Learn how we can help you make this devilishly difficult decision, using Schwab Equity Ratings and more.
 

Using Schwab Equity Ratings®: 10 Frequently Asked Questions

by Greg Forsythe, CFA, Senior Vice President, Schwab Equity Ratings®, Schwab Center for Financial Research
November 26, 2007
 
Doing your own stock research? Learn how Schwab Equity Ratings can help you manage your stock portfolio.
 

How We Pick Stocks

by Jeffrey P. Ryan, CFA, Senior Equity Researcher, Schwab Equity Ratings®, Schwab Center for Financial Research
November 26, 2007

Learn our nine-step process to find stocks for your portfolio.
 

How Schwab Equity Ratings® Are Computed: 10 Frequently Asked Questions

by Greg Forsythe, CFA, Senior Vice President, Schwab Equity Ratings®, Schwab Center for Financial Research
October 29, 2007
 
As part of Greg's popular Schwab Equity Ratings Foundations series, he answers common client questions.
 

How to Use Our Power Tool

by Jeffrey P. Ryan, CFA, Senior Equity Researcher, Schwab Equity Ratings®, Schwab Center for Financial Research
October 25, 2007
 
Start learning how to harness the power of Schwab Equity Ratings® in this first installment of a three-part series.
 

Great Companies vs. Great Stocks

by Greg Forsythe, CFA, Senior Vice President, Schwab Equity Ratings®, Schwab Center for Financial Research
October 11, 2007

Are the best companies of today the best stocks of tomorrow? More often than not, the answer is no. Read why.
 

Schwab Equity Ratings® Foundations: Risk

by Greg Forsythe, CFA, Senior Vice President, Schwab Equity Ratings®, Schwab Center for Financial Research
October 8, 2007
 
How can you identify stocks with the potential to outperform the broad market?
 

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.
 

Schwab Equity Ratings® Foundations: Momentum

by Greg Forsythe, CFA, Senior Vice President, Schwab Equity Ratings®, Schwab Center for Financial Research
September 10, 2007
 
A powerful way to anticipate future stock surprises is to bet on systematic underreaction to newly reported information. Learn how to exploit the underreaction effect.
 

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.
 

Invigorate Your Stock Picks

by Amit Dugar, CFA, Director, Senior Equity Researcher, Schwab Equity Ratings®, Schwab Center for Financial Research
August 22, 2007
 
Schwab Industry Ratings™ can help winnow your equity buys and refine your holds.
 

Schwab Equity Ratings® Foundations: Value

by Greg Forsythe, CFA, Senior Vice President, Schwab Equity Ratings®, Schwab Center for Financial Research
August 14, 2007
 
How can you tell if a stock is currently cheap or expensive? Learn how price ratios and valuation sentiment can help you gauge value.
 

The Right Way to Pick Growth Stocks

by Greg Forsythe, CFA, Senior Vice President, Schwab Equity Ratings®, Schwab Center for Financial Research
July 25, 2007
 
Growth expectations, valuations and sustainability are key. And because most growth stocks don't stay that way for long, you should also learn when to sell. 
 

Schwab Equity Ratings® Foundations: Fundamentals

by Greg Forsythe, CFA, Senior Vice President, Schwab Equity Ratings®, Schwab Center for Financial Research
July 23, 2007
 
Our research indicates that corporate cash flow—and how it's used—can be powerful predictors of future performance. 
 

The Financing Factor

by Greg Forsythe, CFA, Senior Vice President, Schwab Equity Ratings®, Schwab Center for Financial Research
June 26, 2007
 
What's the best way to finance a company? Learn why this concept has proved to be valuable—and how to use it in building your portfolio. 
 

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. 
 

Schwab Equity Ratings® Foundations: Surprise Anticipation

by Greg Forsythe, CFA, Senior Vice President, Schwab Equity Ratings®, Schwab Center for Investment Research®
May 29, 2007

Many investors focus on forecasted earnings per share and other popular (though generally useless) research. The key is anticipating surprises—what the market doesn't know.
  

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.
 

Don't Overpay Today for Growth Tomorrow

by Greg Forsythe, CFA, Senior Vice President, Schwab Equity Ratings®, Schwab Center for Investment Research®
March 30, 2007

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

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?
 

Beyond "Power Rankings"

by Brian L. Burda, CFA, Vice President, Senior Equity Researcher, Schwab Equity Ratings®, Schwab Center for Investment Research®
November 14, 2006 
 
Why many beat-the-market schemes fall short. Plus, a better way to pick stocks.
 

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.
 

Avoiding the Value Trap

by Amit Dugar, CFA, Director, Senior Equity Researcher, Schwab Equity Ratings®, Schwab Center for Investment Research®
August 25, 2006

Looking for value stocks? Beware. What's cheap might be bad. Here's how to avoid the value trap and find inexpensive stocks with upside potential.
 

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?
 

Are Stop-Loss Orders a Good Idea?

by Greg Forsythe, CFA, Senior Vice President, Schwab Equity Ratings®, Schwab Center for Investment Research®
July 27, 2006
 
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.
 

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.
 

Are Stocks With High Earnings Growth Good Investments?

by Greg Forsythe, CFA, Senior Vice President, Schwab Equity Ratings®, Schwab Center for Investment Research®
June 14, 2006
 
A stock's price generally reflects expectations of future fundamentals. Here's how to look for those positive surprises that can propel a stock's price higher.
 

The Surprise Factor

by Greg Forsythe, CFA, Senior Vice President, Schwab Equity Ratings®, Schwab Center for Investment Research®
June 6, 2006
 
A stock's price generally reflects expectations of future fundamentals. Here's how to look for those positive surprises that can propel a stock's price higher.
 

Good and Bad Uses of Corporate Cash

by Greg Forsythe, CFA, Senior Vice President, Schwab Equity Ratings®, Schwab Center for Investment Research®
May 31, 2006 
 
You can tell a lot about a company by what it does with its money. Here's what to look for.
 

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.
 

Whose Advice to Follow

by Greg Forsythe, CFA, Senior Vice President, Schwab Equity Ratings®, Schwab Center for Investment Research®
June 24, 2004
 
Few people are able to consistently pick stocks that beat the market. But there are groups of 'informed investors' who can help spot stocks undervalued or overvalued by the markets.
 

Why Earnings Forecasts Are Bunk

by Greg Forsythe, CFA, Senior Vice President, Schwab Equity Ratings®, Schwab Center for Investment Research®
April 13, 2004
 
For investors, earnings-per-share forecasts are so common that they are often taken for granted. Investors assume EPS forecasts are an integral part of securities analysis—but wise investors always question assumptions.
 

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.