Right now, there are dozens of prominent investing personalities with Twitter accounts – even the Penny Sleuth has one…

What that means for everyone else is that there are thousands of investing ideas floating around the Twit-o-sphere in real-time. If you’re a fan of technical analysis, Twitter is a constant source of information on what’s moving stocks and who’s trading them at any given time. The fundamentals guys are covered too – often with links to articles on why Citi’s board changed or a breakdown of Ford’s financial statements.

What’s even better about Twitter is that it’s a great gauge for market sentiment. After all, it’s hard not to get a grasp on what people are thinking when you’ve got thousands of people talking about the economy.

But all of that data is useless if you don’t know where to find it…

Indeed, Twitter can be an intimidating website to visit, and the learning curve may seem steep at first. Here’s a quick rundown of everything you need to know…

Navigating Twitter

To use Twitter, you first need to create a free account over at twitter.com. There are two important pieces of information on every user’s twitter page – “following” and “followers”. “Following” refers to the number of other users you’re following (you can think of it as your favorite Twitter feeds), while “followers” tells you how many users are following your feed.

When you follow other users their latest “tweets” appear on your home screen. That way, you can keep track of the stocks – or whatever else – they’re talking about.

Your First Follow

With millions of users on the site, it can be hard to decide who’s worth following on Twitter. Now that we’ve been using the site for a little while, here is our list of five investing Twitter feeds worth following:

1.    alphatrends (twitter.com/alphatrends) – AlphaTrends is the Twitter feed of Brian Shannon, a trader who runs the blog of the same name. Shannon’s feed consists primarily of his trades, a worthwhile resource for investors interested in following technical analysis.

2.    wikinvest (twitter.com/wikinvest) – Wikinvest is one of the most popular “Web 2.0” investing sites right now; their Twiter feed is filled with investing articles and market commentary.

3.    marketcurrents (twitter.com/marketcurrents) – MarketCurrents is the stock market news feed from Seeking Alpha. The updates are pretty much constant throughout the trading day.

4.    stocktwits (twitter.com/stocktwits) – StockTwits is a service that helps investors keep track of tickers mentioned on Twitter (more on that in a minute).

5.    FTfinancenews (twitter.com/ftfinancenews) – This Twitter feed is the market news section of the Financial Times. While not updated as frequently as Seeking Alpha’s (#3), it’s still worthwhile to check out.

Don’t forget – we’re on Twitter too! You can follow us by visiting twitter.com/PennySleuth to get our latest articles as well as small-cap updates throughout the day.

Other Ways to Get Investing Ideas on Twitter

If you’re looking for a more directed way to see what’s going on with a particular stock on Twitter, you should check out StockTwits.com. When Twitter users put a dollar sign in front of a ticker they’re tweeting about (i.e. $IBM or $SIRI), StockTwits aggregates the data and makes it easy to search for particular companies by ticker, user, or reputation.

Another option is to do a Twitter Search to see who’s talking about the stocks or industries you’re looking for. Just click the “Search” link at the bottom of any Twitter page to get started.

As more and more investors start using Twitter regularly, we’re sure to see the site’s value as an investing resource increase dramatically. Already Twitter has become a great place to see what other investors are looking at – take a look by visiting Twitter today.

Cheers,
Jonas Elmerraji

April 22, 2009

How to Get Investment Ideas from Twitter was originally featured in the Penny Sleuth.

With that in mind, here are three tools to help you find the best small-cap and penny stocks for your portfolio:

No. 1:  Stock Screeners

A stock screen is one of the most effective ways to pick up on the best stock plays the market has to offer. Brokers and analysts on Wall Street use screens to cut through the noise and find some of the best investment opportunities available.

Stock screeners are applications that look through a list of every stock on the market, and find you the ones that meet your specific criteria. For example, when you ask for a stock with a price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of less than 14, the screener searches the database and only returns the stocks whose P/E ratio is less than 14.

Once you get comfortable with some financial terminology, you can combine metrics to have your stock screen whittle down the broader market to just a few stocks that you think are worth checking out…

You don’t have to be a Wall Street hotshot to run a screen. There are tons of free stock screeners out there that anyone can use. You can find screeners online at financial sites like Google Finance or Morningstar, or you can download desktop screeners like the aptly named Stock Screener Lite.

No. 2: The SEC Database

The Securities and Exchange Commission is the first resource you should tap when you’re ready to research a specific stock. Almost all public companies — large and small alike — are required to file quarterly and annual reports, financials, insider trading information, and more with the SEC.

All of this information is available to anyone with an internet connection. Just go to http://www.sec.gov and click “search for company filings” under the Filings & Forms section. From there, you will navigate to a user-friendly database. It’s completely searchable by company name and/or ticker symbol.

No. 3: What’s everyone else saying?

So you’ve run a screen. Then you have picked out what you believe to be the best stocks to research. You’ve checked with the SEC database — and printed out the companies’ most recent 10-Qs. Now, it’s time to find out what everyone else is saying.

Search the web to see what analysts and other investors think of the stock. Don’t just read message board posts written by cheerleaders who only want to boost the share price. Gather a variety of opinions and forecasts.

One great way to do this is through the social networking site Twitter. Traders and investors alike use Twitter to communicate market information to anyone who wants to follow them. On the Penny Sleuth Twitter feed, we post daily stock updates on big movers and other helpful market information you won’t find in our daily columns.

You can sign up for a free account and follow us here.

Best,
Greg Guenthner

March 27, 2009

Three Tools for Picking Penny Stocks was originally featured in the Penny Sleuth.