How to research market sectors in WebBroker

The Sector and Industry Analyzer provides you with valuable information.

Digging deeper into market sectors and industry groups can help provide context to your stock selection. WebBroker’s* Sectors & Industries tools give you everything you need to research sectors and the companies in them. To get started, simply click on the Markets & Research tab on WebBroker’s top navigation bar, and then the Sectors & Industries tab.

For example, after reading “What does the future hold for gold?”, you might want more information on the materials sector (gold is a subgroup of the materials sector). With WebBroker it’s easy. Once you’re in Sectors & Industries, click on the Materials sector and then click on Gold.

Key features

The Sectors & Industries page contains a wealth of features that can aid your research, allowing you to:

View up-to-the-minute market data, including the top-performing and worst-performing sectors and industries.
Access Canadian and U.S. data by using convenient flag icons.
See how a sector has performed over a variety of time periods.
Compare sectors by market capitalization, price/earnings ratios and earnings-per-share growth rates.

Valuable tools

One particularly valuable tool is the Sector and Industry Analyzer. This provides a graphical representation of major sectors and comparative performance based on key financial ratios.

For example, let’s say you’re interested in the performance of materials relative to other sectors. Click on the Canadian flag icon in Sectors & Industries. Then choose a financial ratio and a time period. You’ll see how the materials sector has performed relative to other sectors. By hovering over the circle illustrating the sector, you can view key data such as P/E ratio, price-to-book and one-year change.

If you click on the materials circle, you’ll be taken to the Industry Analyzer tool, which has the same functionality as the Sector Analyzer tool. Here you can view a graph displaying the industries that make up the materials sector, including gold.

You can then click on the gold industry circle to get a list of individual companies in the industry. The Overview tab allows you to see market cap, P/E ratio and earnings-per-share growth for each company. The Performance tab compares the performance of each company over a variety of time periods. You can also read news about these companies.

Finally, click on the company name to dig deeper — including access to extensive market data, reports, charts and more.

To access these exciting research features today, log in to WebBroker.

* Trade-mark of The Toronto-Dominion Bank, used under license.

The information contained herein is current as of March 15, 2010.

The information contained herein has been provided by TD Waterhouse Discount Brokerage and is for information purposes only. The information has been drawn from sources believed to be reliable. Where such statements are based in whole or in part on information provided by third parties, they are not guaranteed to be accurate or complete. Graphs and charts are used for illustrative purposes only and do not reflect future values or future performance of any investment. The information does not provide financial, legal, tax or investment advice. Particular investment or trading strategies should be evaluated relative to each individual’s objectives and risk tolerance. TD Waterhouse Discount Brokerage, The Toronto-Dominion Bank and its affiliates and related entities are not liable for any errors or omissions in the information or for any loss or damage suffered.

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