Targeting Business and Stock Segments-Part 4 of 5

Information drives systems for targeting a stock portfolio.

Currency is the key issue: private equity and credit rating agencies look at business plans for the future, while retail stock investors are fed dated information about the past.

Insider trading rules makes the stock exchange playing field unequal.

You can make money by hanging on to the coat tails of the rich. Here are some secrets of legal insider trading:

1. Large corporations have their own versions of the CIA. They know what happens in the engine rooms of competitors. Your friend cannot tell you about the workings of his or her company, but may be happy to spill the beans on competitors.

2. Make friends in the cargo booking office of a transporter. Even truck drivers and their assistants can tell you whether shipments to and from factories have risen or fallen.

3. All tiers of a distribution chain can compare business trends within a particular company, as well as compare performances by competing brands.

4. Suppliers know first. Industrial clients cut back or scale up capacities through suppliers. New products and services mean new requirements. Competitors knew details of the Nano launch by Tata Motors before most other stakeholders, because the automobile industry shares manufacturers of tires and a host of other accessories.

5. The Internet has put many tax collection points in the public domain. Advance tax paid by a corporation may be distorted by fiscal incentive systems, but is otherwise a reliable indicator of near-term results.

How do you fashion your information system tools for sharp targeting of a stock portfolio? Post below or email StockWay.MyView@gmail.com

Let us conclude this series with a final piece on S4.