Potential investors can research the company they want to put their
money into on their computers at home.Here are some tips on
researching companies for investment. We'll use The IPOD as an
example. I see alot of people buying IPOD's. How can I benefit from
this trend ?

First, start off by figuring out who owns the company that makes the
IPOD.

Hoovers' Web site can really help you uncover some very basic
information about almost every product that's sold in America.
The first thing that you want to know about IPOD is who owns the
company. It's owned by Apple (AAPL.) You need to find out whether
this is a company that you can invest in -- if it is a company that
has gone public. On the front page of Hoovers' Web site, you will
see a ticker that tells you right away whether a company is public.

Ask yourself, what does the company do?

Click on Apple. One of the first things that you see is an overview
of the company, which tells you about all the brands that Apple
owns.

Most importantly, check Investor's Business Daily

Look to to see if RSI (relative strength ) and EPS (earnings per
share) are above 80. If the numbers are below 80... find another
company.Currently Apple's overall rating is 93

Find out who runs the company.

This is really important. People matter. First, I see the chairman
and CEO, and his name is Steven Jobs. He is a founder, and
that says he knows a lot about the business. That's reassuring.

Now that you know who runs the company, find out how the company has
done.

Go to Morningstar.com. Sometimes you have to pay to subscribe, so
everything you may want to know is not free. A lot of it is free,
though. The first thing you will see on the Apple page is the
current stock price. Here's the info you should look for. How has it
done, for example, over the last five years? Apple's stock has been
doing really well. Now that's something that actually might give you
pause because you want to buy low, not high.

Find out whom the company competes against?

Yahoo! Finance is another great site. Click on competitors, and you
will see a page that shows a chart indicating who Apple's
competitors are. The site has a bunch of information devoted to the
Tech industry. You can read the headlines and see whether
anything interests you. It's just a great way again to get more
information about the company.


Find out what the company has to say about itself.

Every single public company has an investor section on its Web site.
Go right to that section because that's the information you
need to know in order to make an investment decision. You also
always have the option of calling the company directly for
information. Companies are happy to share that information because
they are always looking for new investors.