I need help quickly icking stocks for an assignment. See details. Any suggestions?

Question

Hello Everyone! I need help! I have never invested in stocks before and have just started a corporate finance class in college. We have an assignment and I need help determining the easiest way to pick stocks. The class is only seven weeks so I really am short on time as far as researching a lot of companies. I have taken a look at Yahoo's site. I thought maybe I could look at specific industries, but I don't know what specific $ to look at to narrow the companies down within those industries.

The assignments is as follows. We have $100,000 to invest in at least 3 companies and no more than 5. He says not to pick our stocks haphazardly as our grades will reflect how well the stocks that are picked perform in the current market conditions. We are to track the cost per share of the stock from week to week to see if we have a profit or loss in the investment. I do believe that it must be form the US stock market.

So would ROE be a good number to look at to narrow them down? What should I look at P/E, market capitalization, dividend yeild, ROE to narrow them down? I don't want to just pick any stock, I want to find one that is going to do the best.

Answer 1

There's a good guide to this @ Fool.com
http://www.fool.com/school/basics/basics06.htm

Some picks I'd recommend are:
TOYOTA Motor Co. (TM) - one of the few car companies doing well

WALMART Stores (WMT) - mentioned in a fool.co.uk article about picks from Warren Buffett last April, as was
Anheuser-Busch (BUD) - brewers of BUDWEISER beer.
http://www.fool.co.uk/news/comment/2006/c060404d.htm
And if you want to know anything about picking stocks, Warren Buffett is the person to learn from http://www.salon.com/people/bc/1999/08/31/buffett/

I find the best place to look-up stock quotes is:
http://quote.fool.com/ (for US Stocks)
& easier still
http://quote.fool.co.uk (UK version, which is easier still as all I have to do is take a quick glance at the financial forecast not featured in the US version, and have had stocks go over 100% in profit after a 30second glance at that)

Answer 2

Step 1) Look at low P/E stocks.
Step 2) Look at their Sales, see that they have large number there.
Step 3) Look at their strategies by going to www.hoovers.com and giving ticker or company name. At least a brief company profile will be available with financials.
Step 4)Go to www.marketwatch.com and find out how they are traded. Get more and concuring information here.
Then pick the company that has potential to go up. Step 1 and 2 are sufficient for you at your level. If you would like to be more puritanical and is looking for an A then spending some time at 3 and 4 is advised.

Answer 3

Get a book on Warren Buffet, very smart man.

1) Apple Computer
2) NYX (New York Stock Exchange)
3) Toyota
4) Walmart
5) Tim Hortons

Good luck!

Answer 4

Think of five companys that you know personally. Home Depot, McDonalds Starbucks etc. then look them up, check their latest results look for info on yahoo finance. Pick some and start tracking.