Research Tools Grade: B
Overview:
TradeKing has an interesting collection of research. The news and market commentary resources are average. Company specific research reports are lacking but there are a nice collection of financial data screens for every stock. The stock screener is excellent while the events calendar is poor. The community page, featuring blogs, forums and customer trade activity is worth a look. Overall, TradeKing research does not quite stand up to the premier research services but there are still a few nice resources for investors.
Details:
The main TradeKing research page (click on images for larger views):
Market news and commentary is provided by Thomson Reuters. Company specific research reports are provided by Market Grader. Company specific news, 5 years of financial data, insider transaction activity data and charts and other metrics are also available. This data is useful and well laid out.
The stock screener is very well done. Users can select from a series of predefined screens or make their own custom screens based on 88 criteria and save them. Here is a custom screening I created that screens by market cap, 5 year revenue growth, 5 year P/E average, price to book and price to sales:
The events calendar shows past and future earnings announcements, upgrades, downgrades and consensus revisions. The calendar layout is poor and unlike many of the offerings found at competitors, data does not include dividends, splits and IPOs. Here is a sample view for December 22, 2008:
TradeKing also features a community section:
In this area, TradeKing staff and customers can view or post blogs, view community trade activity, join groups and post on forums. This is very similar to the Zecco community offerings.
Related articles: TradeKing Registration, TradeKing Stock Trading, TradeKing Options Trading, TradeKing Charts
