How to Use InvestorsFriend Inc.’s Paid Research page
Topics: (scroll down to find each topic)
The (mercifully short) Disclaimer (Please Read)
How to Use the Research (and the meaning of the ratings)
Account Management (changing your password, checking your renewal date)
Information on PayPal and Scam emails and how to update credit card number or expiry date in PayPal
Notice that our Disclaimer is not written in fine print. It is also short and not written in legal mumbo-jumbo like most disclaimers are.
DISCLAIMER: All stock ratings presented are “generic” in nature and do not take into account the unique circumstances and risk tolerance of any individual. The information presented is not a recommendation for any individual to buy or sell any security. The authors are not registered investment advisors and the information presented is not to be considered investment advice. The reader should consult a registered investment advisor or registered dealer prior to making any investment decision.
For ease of writing style the newsletter and articles are often written in the first person. But, legally speaking, all information and opinions are provided by InvestorsFriend Inc. and not by the author(s) as individuals. InvestorsFriend Inc. itself does not have a position in any of the indicated securities while the author(s) may have a position (the existence of a position at the time a report is written, is disclosed). All stock purchases and sales are at your own risk. By their nature no one can guarantee which direction stock prices will move.
It may seem very odd to say that the information “is not be considered investment advice”. Legally speaking it is not. In Canada “Investment Advice” as such generally means individual advice and gets into the “know your client” rule. We never touch anyone’s money. Our ratings are generic in the sense that it takes further analysis for any given individual to decide if a given Buy-rated stock is really a “Buy” for their own unique circumstances. For example if you as a subscriber already have a lot of bank stocks, then for you Canadian Western Bank might not be a prudent buy whereas, at the very same time, for other subscribers with a modest or no exposure to other banks, it might indeed be a Buy.
How to Use the Research (and the meaning of the ratings)
For ease of writing style the newsletter and articles are often written in the first person. But, legally speaking, all information and opinions are provided by InvestorsFriend Inc. and not by the author(s) as individuals.
The research page provides a concise but reasonably comprehensive report on each of over 30 companies.
On a technical point, note that sometimes browsers do not show you the latest version of a Web Page unless you click Control-refresh or equivalent. I have occasionally seen this happen with this page where my browser shows me an older copy until I hit control-refresh. This would only happen if you had already visited the page recently. I think most browsers are already set to refresh pages on every visit. In Internet explorer this setting is under Tools, Internet Options, General, Settings.
While each stock has a generic rating that ranges from Strong Sell to Strong Buy, the suitability of any stock to a particular investor depends on a variety of factors including the investor’s total financial situation and risk tolerance. Therefore each investor reading these reports must take the responsibility to decide, possibly with the help of an advisor, whether each stock is right or wrong for their particular circumstances.
The research page is probably best suited to those investors who will read the reports carefully and decide if they agree with the rating.
Each rating is made at a point in time and is made at a particular stock price. If the stock price has moved significantly since the rating was made then the rating may no longer apply at the current stock price.
There is no set schedule as to when reports will be updated. Often the higher rated stocks will be updated soon after the release of their quarterly earnings reports. Lower rated stocks are not updated as quickly or as often and may be removed from the coverage in order to concentrate more effort on higher rated stocks.
The research page has a section where “daily” comments are made usually about five days per week. There is no set schedule for this but comments are more frequently made Sunday through Thursday. These running comments have been left on the Site all the way back to late 2003. Generally I would expect that a new subscriber might want to read the comments back one to three months into history. In addition when looking at any particular stock, it may be useful to do a “control-F” in your browser to search back for earlier comments on the stock. However, note that the older links to older reports will not work once each report has been updated.
We trust that the ratings are fairly straight-forward, We do try to use plain English. Note that, for example, (lower) Buy means it is a Buy but getting closer to a Weak Buy. Weak Buy means barely a buy, essentially a hold rating but leaning slightly towards Buy. (higher) Buy means a Buy that is almost but not quite a Strong Buy. In most cases it is difficult to assign a rating to each stock as there are so many factors to consider. As a subscriber to this page you should always read each report to determine if you agree with the rating. All stock purchases and sales are at your own risk. Sometimes we add the word ‘Speculative” in front of our ratings to indicate that we perceive a higher degree of uncertainty.
Therefore, the ranking of ratings is as follows
(higher) Strong Buy
Strong Buy
(lower) Strong Buy
(higher) Buy
Buy
(lower) Buy
Weak Buy / Hold
Weak Sell / Hold
Sell
Strong Sell
And again the word “Speculative” or particularly ‘(highly) Speculative” at the front of the rating would indicate more speculative… but all stocks can be considered speculative to some degree especially if too large a position is held in one stock.
Note that a Sell rating does not imply a Short Sell rating. Short Selling is vastly different than merely selling a stock that you own.
By their nature no one can guarantee which direction stock prices will move. In fact if markets are efficient then the current stock price of every stock always represents the collective wisdom of all investors as to the value of each stock. If markets are efficient then all stocks are equally good bets on a risk / return basis and all stocks are essentially “holds”. If markets are efficient then it is actually arrogant to suggest that any stock is a better buy than another since this goes against the collective wisdom of the market. Therefore, please realize that it is inherently difficult to predict winners and losers in the stock market and please realize that it is unrealistic to expect any stock picker to be free of bad calls. No-doubt some stocks that we rate Strong Buy will turn out to drop (or even plummet) in price. So far we have a great track record, but in this inherently difficult process some bad calls are a certainty. By rating some stocks as better buys than others we are implicitly saying that we think there are at least some inefficiencies in the market and that the market is not 100% correct in its view of the proper price for each stock.
We would suggest that subscribers not restrict their attention to the Strong Buys. I certainly hold both Strong Buys and many of the Buys. Also the difference between a (higher) Buy and a (lower) Strong Buy rating may be very minimal. A portfolio consisting only of the Strong Buys would be considered too concentrated. In fact even a Portfolio of all the Buys and Strong Buys might be considered too concentrated since we have often been concentrated in certain sectors of the economy.
The editors personal portfolio breakdown is provided. I suggest that subscribers pick and choose from the rated stocks based on whether or not you agree with the rating based on the report provided. Given that most subscribers have existing portfolios and have your own thoughts about each company and have other sources of information, it was not the intention that subscribers merely follow the editors portfolio.
Subscribers who would like more clarification on how to best use the research page can email me with any questions.
In all cases subscribers are responsible for their own trading decisions. There are never any guarantees when it comes to any given stock.
Information on PayPal and Scam emails and how to update a new credit card number or expiry date in PayPal
We use PayPal to set up subscriptions and bill credit cards. Paypal is owned by eBay.
Watch out for scam emails pretending to be from PayPal, usually they ask for updated credit card information and have a link that says PayPal but actually points to some other Site. The emails have the PayPal logo so they look real. The real PayPal always addresses you by the name you registered with them (in my case Dear Investorsfriend Inc.) PayPal recommends you never click on such requests and if you do want to change your information on PayPal go to www.paypal.com. You will see that their site is an “https” site, where the “s” signifies secure.
Note that I have no access to your credit card information. I can cancel subscriptions but I can not create them, extend them re-instate them etc.
If your credit card expires, there is a process required in order to prevent you subscription from being cancelled.
Log into Paypal at www.paypal.com your username is your email address. They have a “forgot Password” function. Go to “My Account” then “profile” and then choose “credit cards”. You will then see buttons where you can edit your credit card, clicking that you can then edit the expiry date.
If your credit card changes, there is a two-step process required in order to prevent you subscription from being cancelled.
- Log into Paypal at www.paypal.com your username is your email address. They have a “forgot Password” function. Go to “My Account” then “profile” and then choose “credit cards”. You will then see buttons where you can remove a credit card, and add a credit card, or edit a credit card info.(At this point add a new credit card, but do not delete the old credit card until step 2 below is done.)
- While logged into your PayPal account, click on “My Account” and then “History” and then “All activity”. Find the transaction where your subscription was created. If the subscription is still marked as “active” under the status column then click on “details”. You will then see an area where you can choose or change your “subscription funding source”.(At this point it is then safe delete the old credit card)
If you need to change your email that PayPal is using. It is not possible to change the email associated with a subscription. Therefore to change the email that PayPal uses to contact you about payments you would need to cancel the subscription and re-subscribe. First login to Paypal and choose My Account and then Profile. Then choose email and you can add a different email. Then you can cancel the subscription and re-subscribe. If there was time left on your subscription email me and I can refund a portion of your payment to reflect that.
InvestorsFriend Paid Member Account Management
For those who chose annual subscriptions through Paypal. I want to remind you that as indicated in the subscription sign-up page, the annual subscriptions do renew automatically on the renewal date, unless they have been canceled. However, recognizing that a year is a long time and that in some cases the renewal may not be wanted, simply notify me within four weeks of an automatic renewal and if requested I will cancel the renewal and make a full refund through PayPal. Unfortunately our system is not set up to issue reminders when the renewal date is approaching, but you can see it by clicking “My Account” when you log in.
Subscribers can edit their InvestorsFriend Inc. Account. Click our “Paid Subscriber Login” button at the the top each page on investorsfriend.com. But note that you have to logout such as by closing the web page before you can see the Paid Subscriber Login menu item. Login using your email as user name and your password (see the Forgot password button on our login page if needed). You can then choose “My Account”. There you can change your password and see your next payment date (expiry date in the case of those who pay by cheque, or who have made a one-time payment rather than subcribed on a renewable basis). If needed you can change your email address. This will not change your username. To change the username, contact me. If you change your email address, the email that PayPal uses does not change.
To Change to a Different PayPal Subscription
For example to change from monthly to annual.
PayPal treats each subscription separately. If you subscribe on a new PayPal subscription, any existing PayPal subscription also continues, so you need to cancel the existing one (or ask us to do it for you). On our Subscribe page is a link to a cancel form. If you subscribe on a new PayPal subscription, and cancel the old one, you will get emails about the cancel from PayPal and from our system. It can be confusing because you will get an email saying the subscription is canceled, but meanwhile the new subscription is active. The cancel emails will come on the date you cancel and again at the expiry of any time that was left on the old subscription. It would be best to choose a new PayPal subscription and cancel the old only near the end of any period you have already paid for because otherwise you would double pay for any over-lap period.
Our GST Number…
…is 86572 0262 RT001
Our prices are inclusive of GST (Canadian Goods and Services Tax).
Example: on a $15 monthly payment, GST is 15/1.05 times 0.05 = $0.71
On a $150 payment it is 150/1.05*.05 = $7.14
Shawn Allen
InvestorsFriend Inc.
Last updated Feb 17, 2013