Eliminating the guesswork in stock trading

With the advent of online stock trading, retail investors now have more tools than ever to make informed and intelligent buying and selling decisions on their own.

In fact, the kind of in-depth analysis available from selected online stock brokerages today eliminates much of the guesswork from participating in the stock market.

Web-based stock brokerage firms like CitisecOnline.com aim to help investors quickly identify stocks with potential for growth – aided by the Internet which has allowed them to communicate easily to clients and which has allowed clients to easily act on the information made available to them.

Driven by an aggressive research team, CitisecOnline provides clients with the latest updates on corporate news and developments and its analysts’ opinions on how these will impact on stock prices.

Guided by a target price or what is considered a fair market price for each stock and its current market price, clients profit when they are able to buy low and sell at a higher price.

Going by a number of guidelines and principles, CitisecOnline provides clients with the actual and an estimated target price. The difference between actual and target then represents the potential of the stock. 

To even simplify the stock selection process for the newbie investor, CitisecOnline provides a list of attractive buys classified as "Top Picks." These are issues highly recommended by its experienced research team.

The first online stock brokerage in the country to go public, CitisecOnline is focused on providing first-time investors with relevant guidelines they would need to gain confidence in the market.

Unlike traditional brokerage firms that cater primarily to high net worth individuals, the company believes that expan-ding participation in the stock market to include middle-income investors will strengthen the industry.

According to Juanis Barredo, CitisecOnline vice president, the language of the company’s research is edited to make it as simple and investor-friendly as possible.

Nevertheless, he says the process of analysis remains in-depth and well thought out. Furthermore, analysts are mandated to update the public on any changes in their assumptions or recommendations by posting their views.

Every recommendation is based on a thorough study of a company’s fundamentals – earnings and asset growth as well strengths and efficiencies – says April Tan, the company’s research head. Tan discloses that CitisecOnline has a high batting average in the accuracy of its top picks.

CitisecOnline encourages its analysts to continuously upgrade their skills and know-ledge. Currently, a number of its researchers are undergoing higher studies under the Chartered Financial Analysts program.

CitisecOnline’s research strategy utilizes a top-down approach to investing, which assesses prospects from both the macro and micro perspectives.

Top picks are also based on industries that stand to benefit from the general environment as well as companies that show the greatest investment potential.  

CitisecOnline further corroborates its views by utilizing trend analysis which encourages investors to base decisions on market trends. This marriage between the two analytical approaches enhances the degree of success of its top picks.  

However, research is just one of the many online tools now available to the retail investor in the online era.

Conrado Bate, president of CitisecOnline, says the interactive feature of its website (www.citiseconline.com) allows an investor to build a watchlist of favored stocks, set up an alarm system to go off when particular shares hit certain prices, sort financial data of companies, or follow price trends through graphs.

CitisecOnline caters to various levels of proficiency – from entry level to highly sophisticated. A big chunk of its regulars are middle-income earners aged 26 to 45, who are mostly techno-savvy.

CitisecOnline’s aim is to expand this base of retail investors. To get a free seven-day access to CitisecOnline’s research and to find out about its seminars for investors, call its customer relations service at 633-3777 or log on to www.citiseconline.com.