The Library Means Business: Do homework before investing in dot-coms

The days of becoming an instant dot-com millionaire are over, but that's not to say that there isn't money to be made investing in technology stocks.

It's just not going to be easy money.

Though you may not want to hear it now any more than you did when you were in high school, before you become successful you are going to have to do your homework.

And what better place to do that homework than at the Business Resource Center at the Library Center, 4653 S. Campbell?

Business Services Librarian Mike DePue can steer you in the right direction to begin your research into a particular tech stock.

He recommends using a three-pronged approach to begin your research: Check out books, read up-to-date articles in magazines and newspapers, and surf the Web.

Books

While any book on dot-coms with a copyright date any older than last week is already ridiculously out of date, there are still many solid books on the library shelves on the subject of conducting stock research.

A quick search on the library catalog under the subject heading "Investment Analysis" yields a wealth of books to give you a greater understanding of what to look for in a solid tech stock.

One such title, "The Gorilla Game: Picking Winners in High Technology," by Geoffrey A. Moore, Paul Johnson and Tom Kippola, 332.6322 M, helps you figure out how to find gorilla stocks-ones that dominate their market niches.

Another title, "Blue Chips & Hot Tips: Identifying Emerging Growth Companies Most Likely to Succeed," by W. Keith Schilit and Howard M. Schilit, 332.63 S, helps you discover exactly what to look for in an initial public offering, key questions to ask about a company and how to examine a prospectus.

Periodicals

Serious investment researchers should not be without the latest information and analysis from the Street's most trusted periodical sources: The Wall Street Journal and Business Week.

If you do not have a subscription of your own, you can drop by the Library Center, Brentwood, Kearney or Midtown Carnegie Branches and browse through a current or back issue.

There are also dozens of other industry-specific periodicals housed in the Library Center's Business Resource Center.

Web

The trouble with researching stocks on the Internet is not finding the information.

It's out there, the good, the bad and the ugly.

The hard part is finding information that you can trust.

One of the first Web stops in your research should be the home page of the company in which you are interested.

Most of these sites have a section titled "Investor Information" where you can find stock charts, financial news releases, dividend histories, SEC filings, annual reports and other pertinent information.

Next you should surf over to investor-friendly Web sites such as The Motley Fool, www.fool.com, or Yahoo! Finance, www.finance.yahoo.com, to see what other investors are saying on the popular message boards attached to each stock quote.

The Yahoo! pages list recent news links on each profiled company from financial news sources such as Business Wire and Briefing.com. There are also many fee-based services that will prepare customized market reports for you.

(Nancy Parry McCluer is the promotion specialist for the Springfield-Greene County Library District.)