Power Picks: Some of the Best Investment Sites On Web

There are tens of thousands of Web sites devoted to investing, finance,
Wall Street and the stock market in general. Every six months we scan our
bookmarks, favorites, and notable Net sites to share that list with readers
in an effort to offer a quick resource guide for you.

Here it is:

While these sites appear in no particular order, each provides individual
investors with news, tools and charts that help ease the decision-making
process. Some of the reasons behind this group of Harmon High Fives:

• Wall Street Journal Interactive wins as a quality source of
  investment news and information. When other services put out an article,
  some element may often be overlooked or key information that investors need
  may be left out. WSJ.com usually has a fairly rounded piece. The site is a
  little graphic laden and could use some more data points up front, and more
  links to the deeper resources.
  
• Quote.com offers the kind of overall package of research and news
  that few other Web sites can muster together in one spot. The last we heard
  it featured 700 content sources on its Web site. Most of this is high-end,
  very concentrated, ‘just add water’ tidbits of data that paint the picture
  of a company. Again, we’re not fans of graphics for graphics sake (like the
  big free 30 day trial GIF on Quote.com’s first page), but sometimes the
  pictures draw new users in. Power users don’t need pictures, however. It’s
  the data, excelsior. And Quote.com has tons of it.
  
• Yahoo! Finance puts together a more general assortment of market
  news and other content with incredible ease of use. You never seem far away
  from a relevant click to new information, a chart, or roundup of news. One
  of the best things it does for those interested in Internet stocks is show
  ISDEX, The Internet Stock Index, its value as an index, with associated
  news throughout the day. A great way to stay on top of Net stocks and the
  news that makes them move.
  
• Upside.com went through a mid-life crisis and came out as a raging
  teenager with wit and no holds barred news from a staff that pulls no
  punches. It’s shock investment journalism–Howard Stern meets
  Wired (when Wired was worth reading, circa 1994). But
  while attitude is OK, Upside.com needs to keep the nuts and bolts
  financials in there to support the talk. Keep us coming back.
  
• Perhaps the best thing the SEC ever did for investors (and analysts)
  was require companies to file their annual reports, quarterlies and other
  financial reports in electronic format and feed it into the SEC Edgar
  database. Although it’s not always up to date with every single filing you
  may need, Edgar, a free site to access, contains enough filings to make
  Wall Street happy and keep investors busy doing their homework.
  
• Despite being best pals with fellow billionaire Bill Gates,
  Berkshire Hathaway’s Warren Buffet, the Coca-Cola drinking, Gillette
  shaving, Dairy Queen ice cream-eating most famous investor of our era,
  makes headlines with his proclamation that he doesn’t invest in technology
  stocks. What the media never mentions is part two of Buffet’s answer:
  because he doesn’t understand enough about technology to do so. But Buffett
  understands newspapers like The Washington Post, or entertainment
  firms like Disney, and often talks about them. Click the link and read some
  of his letters to shareholders–a must read for any investor.
  
• Herring.com used to be the domain for those interested in learning
  about venture capital. But now Upside.com is starting to match some of
  Herring.com’s efforts. Both have good articles that any entrepreneur should
  look.
  
• CNET.com breaks many technology stories and has done an admirable
  job of blending technology and media into a fairly digestible experience.
  Likewise, InternetNews.com makes it easy for users to get the latest news
  on the Internet industry.
  
  Coming soon: Your picks. Look for our Web survey form soon in this
  space. And if you can make it to Chicago July 15 for our session on
  investments at Summer Internet World, we’d love to see you there.