How to pick a stock: The BUD example

In a previous posting I covered how small-fish can buy stocks even if they do not have the $$ to open a brokerage account. The costs are not trivial; Etrade($1,000) and Charles Schwab($2,000). The answer was company direct stock purchase programs. For as little as $25 a month you can buy shares of ANHEUSER BUSCH (NYSE:BUD). How do you know if buying shares of BUD is a wise investment? The short answer is... you don't. No stock picker is right 100% of the time. However you can greatly increase your success rate by applying some basic stock analysis principles and understanding your risk tolerance. Risk tolerance is a way of measuring how you FEEL about risking your money for some reward. Usually a financial planner will asked you questions to help determine you risk tolerance. (or they should). Risk tolerance determines your investment style, conservative, moderate or aggressive. The higher your tolerance the more you are willing to accept some volatility in your investments. At the PennyJar we believe you should never invest any money you cannot afford to lose. Remember our talk about discretionary income?

Let's now turn our attention to analysing aka(understanding) ANHEUSER BUSCH (NYSE:BUD). Let's pretend we know nothing about buying stocks. What would be some of the things we would need to know? Well first what is a stock? When you buy a stock you are buying a piece of a company. Stock gives you partial ownership in a company. You become partners with the company. Your fortunes are tied to the company's success. It only seems logical then that you need to understand the company. Fundamental stock analysis is about understanding the company before you become a part owner in the company. O.K. what would I like to know about the company?

What does it do?
How does it make its money?
Can I go to sleep and know the company will still be there when I wake up?
Is the company profitable? (does it make more than it spends)
Does the company reward the stock holders by paying a dividend?
Who runs the company?
How effectively do the owners spend the stock holders money? Remember companies sell stock to raise money. What they do with this raised money is important to their business and your pockets.
Do we think the stock price will go up or down?

Getting the answers to these questions will help you decide if you should buy BUD.
The best place to look for the answer to our questions is Yahoo Finance. Here is the link to BUD at Yahoo Finance

What does it do? This can be found by clicking on profile link from Yahoo Finance. And here is where we find out that BUD "engages in the production and distribution of beer worldwide". This was not surprise (hopefully). We also find out "The Entertainment segment owns and operates theme parks. The company also is involved in the real estate development business; and owns and operates The Kingsmill Resort and Conference Center in Williamsburg, Virginia".
More I want more.. Let's visit www.hoovers.com to find out more about BUD. From Hoovers we find out that BUD owns a 50% stake in Mexico's top brewer, Grupo Modelo, which makes Corona and Negra Modelo among many other brands.

Let's stop here for now. Please look around the profile link. Can you tell me the name of the CEO and the income of th CEO? How many employees?
To be continued.........