Note: This is going to be a constant series as I embark on my journey in Value Investing Mentorship. If you want to find out more, please email me at team@lancequek.vc. The author does not take responsibility for any factual inaccuracies made. Any opinions, conclusions, or other information expressed here is not financial advice. They are given on a general basis and are subject to change without notice. Your personal investment decisions are ultimately based on your financial goals, investment time horizon, risk appetite, and portfolio needs – which we do not advise. All information, data, and analysis here are provided “AS IS” and without warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied. Past performance is no indication of future performance; you are recommended to verify all information and consult licensed, professional financial services. The author does not take any responsibility for any loss or damage of any kind made based on the opinions or facts published in this document.

There are many tools one can use while we invest in the markets. We will be discussing about some of them in this post. The tools discussed in this post will all be free. If you would like paid tools that are more highly sophisticated, please let us know and we will be happy to share.

Idea Generation

There are 3300 companies listed on the Nasdaq and 2800 on the NYSE alone. On top of that, there are many other opportunities in other markets like SGX (640), Tokyo Stock Exchange (3863), the two Indian stock exchanges (6600), Hong Kong Stock Exchange (2597) and many more in other markets. This means many different companies we can potentially select from to build our portfolio. Here are some tools I personally use to do screenings for stocks (and a quick review of each of them):

1. Dataroma: Tells one what are the top holdings of big fund managers. I personally track the following fund managers:
   • Value: Berkshire Hathaway, Daily Journal Corp, Oaktree Capital Management
   • Growth: Tiger Global Management, Maverick Capital
2. Finviz Fundamentals Stock Screener: Sorts stocks for potential investments by fundamentals. I think this would be able to give us a good screen of the market and what’s out there.
3. GuruFocus Screener: This allows you to input your targets into the portal and it will generate companies that fit your portfolio.
4. StockRover: They share various companies on their watchlists, and are also named the best stock picker for 2023 by Investopedia.
5. 13F Fund Manager Holdings: Similar to Dataroma, this tells us the changes in holdings by fund managers. I sometimes use this to do some searches as a quick fix.
   • List of 13F Securities can be found here
   • Do your search on your desired fund manager here
6. SeekingAlpha: Another good place where other investors post the information about why they believe a company is worth looking into.
7. Insurance Companies and Analyst Reports from Fund Managers: Please do your own due diligence on these reports and do not take them wholesale. I will look at their fund documents and look into their top 10 holdings. Some examples include:
   • Brandes Investment Partners, LP
   • HSBC Life Insurance Fund Prices
   • MarketWatch Fund Screener
8. Blogs on investing (most of these are run by people I know): VIM, VICollege, MoneyWiseSmart & of course, here.

Quick Data Search

Most of us would be quite busy while trying to build our portfolio due to studies, work or our own businesses. This is especially so for me as I am managing a private equity fund while doing some turnarounds for my portfolio companies. Therefore, I will need information at the tip of my hands, and here’s what I use for them:

1. Company Investor Relations Page: This is where the companies will share more information about their company progress to their investors. You could find this by doing a quick search “[Company Name] Investor Relations” (e.g., “Regeneron Pharmaceuticals investor relations”).
2. GuruFocus: On top of the stock screener function we shared earlier, there is also the ticker/company search function at the top. Just put in the stock’s tickers into the search bar and you will be able to find information on the company.
3. StockRow: Like GuruFocus, you will be able to screen stocks based on your criteria and find out more about the company.
4. Morningstar: My personal favorite so far, it has a comprehensive list of information regarding the company’s financials, presented in either chart form (up to three years) or table form. It also helps with the calculations of valuation ratios such as EV/EBIT.
5. Google Finance: If you want a quick fix, here’s something you can use to look at the data of a company. You can even pull data into your own Google Sheet if you want. Something good for you if you want to do a financial model as your valuation model (such as DCF).
6. Investing.com: Global stock screener with both qualitative and quantitative information on the company you are researching on.

Market Sentiments

Sometimes, market sentiments will also affect how the share prices move. This is where we can find potential opportunities to enter and exit the market. Here are some of the tools I use to understand the market / sectorial sentiments:

1. Shiller PE / CAPE / PE10 Ratio: This is the ratio is calculated by dividing a company’s stock price by the average of the company’s earnings for the last ten years, adjusted for inflation. To estimate the market sentiments, we can use the CAPE ratio of the S&P500 index and for sectors, we can do the same for the relevant sectoral ETFs.
2. VIX Indicator: VIX is the ticker symbol and the popular name for the Chicago Board Options Exchange’s CBOE Volatility Index, a popular measure of the stock market’s expectation of volatility based on S&P 500 index options. This tells us how volatile the market is at the material point in time.
3. Buffett Indicator: This is the ratio of the total United States stock market to GDP. For me, I use the historical trendline +/- 1 SD as the reference point. Anything higher will mean an overvaluation, while anything under indicates potential undervaluation.
4. Point and Figure Charts of Bullish Percent Indices in StockCharts: These P&F charts plot price movements for the underlying securities without taking into consideration the passage of time. An X is created when the price moves higher by a set amount, called the box size. An O is created when the price drops the box size amount. I will watch out for reversals as . I will typically track the following P&F charts (italics ones are the main ones I track):
   • $BPNYA: Tracks all the companies listed on the NYSE
   • $BPCOMPQ: Tracks all the companies listed on the Nasdaq
   • $BPINFO: Tracks technology sector
   • $BPHEAL: Tracks healthcare sector
   • $BPENER: Tracks the energy sector
   • $BPFINA: Tracks the financial sector
   • $BPDISC: Tracks the consumer discretionary sector
   • $BPREAL: Tracks the real estate sector
   • $BPCOMM: Tracks the communication services sector
   • $BPMATE: Tracks the materials sector
   • $BPSTAP: Tracks the consumer staples sector
   • $BPTELE: Tracks the telecommunications sector
5. CNN Fear and Greed Index: Gives a simple, diagrammatic show of what’s the market sentiment at the material point in time.

I typically spend about a number of hours using some of these tools (mainly in lists 1 and 2). This is part of me doing due diligence in privately owned companies as we make decisions to invest and looking at multiples. I have a dedicated tablet with these tools (at least the ones I use frequently such as Morningstar, SEC 13F Filings) opened so that I can track them as necessary. However, I don’t typically look at market conditions often as we typically look into time in the market rather than timing the market.

As an investor, I will usually spend about 1 hour a week (on top of what I shared earlier) to just look into potential ideas we can invest in for the public markets, while leveraging on the tools we have used in the private markets to do the same.

Hope this list of tools will also help you in your investing journey.