Top 10, Part II

Plenty of worthwhile Websites didn't make our cut

By Kathy Yakal

Edited by Randall W. Forsyth (November 23, 1998)

Our second annual list of Top 10 Websites for investors ("Web Masters," October 26) brought a flurry of E-mail from readers who either liked what we said, wanted more information, or thought we'd missed the boat. Fortunately, there were few messages from the latter group.

The most common questions came from people looking for online portfolio trackers and quote sites that would better meet their needs. One reader was looking for a portfolio home for his bond prices (http://www.bondvu.com/ has 'em, as do http://www.quote.com/ and http://www.cbot.com/.)

Another wanted to track international stock prices; CNNfn recently added stock quotes from London's FTSE 100, Paris' CAC-40 and Frankfurt's Xetra DAX 30 (www.cnnfn.com/worldbiz). Finance Online (http://www.finance-online.com/) has some good links to international quote providers. Futures and options? Start with PC Quote (http://www.pcquote.com/) and Data Broadcasting Corp. (http://www.dbc.com/).

You may be tripping over U.S. stock prices everywhere you turn on the World Wide Web, but investors looking for different data flavors have a harder time. Still there are plenty of outlets, for all kinds of quotes. Primate Software, for example (http://primate.com/), whose slogan is, "So simple a monkey can use it!" For $22.95 a month, you can download up to 250,000 end-of-day and historical quotes per month, using an 800 telephone number (Internet download is expected to be available in about a month). Primate's software ($7 shipping charge, $24.95 setup fee for service), Quote Monkey! and Chart Monkey! helps you download and do basic charting studies (using about a dozen indicators) with data from the New York Stock Exchange, Nasdaq (including smallcap and Bulletin Board issues), the American Stock Exchange, Canadian futures and options exchanges, and U.S. mutual funds. Quote Monkey's data are compatible with any charting program that can read Metastock data.

Some of the E-mail that came in after our Top 10 review called our attention to sites that didn't make the cut, but which readers thought worthy of mention. To clarify the criteria of the rankings again, sites were judged based on their excellence in six categories: ease of use, depth and usefulness of data, editorial content, tools and interactivity, timeliness, and price (value for the cost). Sites that landed in the top 20 did so because they were very good in all categories and exceptional in some. There are still many, many sites that are worthy of recommendation because they excel in one or two areas -- or at least provide some insight that may be of interest to you. Not every Website needs to be a supersite. In fact, we especially appreciate sites that neatly fill their niches.

Technology stocks are among the most interesting ones these days. But keeping up with this rapidly changing segment of the market can be difficult given how much is happening there. Consider looking to sites that specialize in this volatile sector.

CMP's TechWeb Finance (http://www.techweb.com/) is a good place to start. You get the day's top stories, market data, analysis and other resources, gratis. The online version of Red Herring magazine (http://www.herring.com/) watches the tech beat, and posts stories about technology that may be of interest to investors. If you're a high-tech investor or just interested in watching the circus but you've never checked out Red Herring's monthly publication, you should.

Motley Fool's continuing popularity surely owes much to its folksy, commonsense tone, in addition to the tremendous body of information and advice that's built up over the years. If that kind of style suits you, head on over to the Armchair Millionaire (http://www.armchairmillionaire.com/), a joint venture of Quicken.com and Village.com. This is a great site for people who want to get into the stock market and stay there for the long term, and want to see how other individual investors have built successful portfolios. The site is light on data and market news, and heavy on learning-by-example through tools like its model portfolio, Five Steps to Financial Freedom, investor forums and success stories. All free.

As Mary Tyler Moore begat Rhoda and Lou Grant, so a popular thread on the Silicon Investor site has grown into a site of its own. Market Gems (http://www.marketgems.com/) is designed for the short-term trader (two to five days) and the day trader. A daily watch list and weekly newsletter are available to subscribers, at monthly, quarterly and annual rates ($25, $70, $275, respectively; A.B. Watley clients get a price break). Some archival data are available free on the site, and the thread still operates on Silicon Investor (http://www.techstocks.com/), where it remains a hot topic.

Former Microsoft executive Matthew Stasior is now the CEO of MicroCap 1000.com, host of a new Website designed for both novice and seasoned investors interested in the small capitalization stocks (http://www.microcap1000.com/). This free site is off to a good start. It's clean, fast, and its mix of information and tools came out of the block strong, though it lacks depth at this stage. Daily and weekly recaps, spotlights on individual stocks and sectors, analyses from fund managers and analysts, portfolio picks, an education center and a fraud watch are some of the site's early features. The company recently announced an alliance with Talk City (http://www.talkcity.com/) to provide live interactive chats and special guests.

The Web doesn't offer absolutely everything every individual investor might want (at least at the right price), but you can probably find most of what you're looking for somewhere. It's still a browser's market, so take advantage of this surfeit of information and analysis while you can; it probably won't be around forever in this abundance for little or no cost. In the meantime, know of a site we should take a look at?

E-mail us at randall.forsyth@news.barrons.com.