Relative Strength Index: Yahoo vs Google Finance
"Google's RSI is using a 10 period on 2 minute bars - i.e. it is based upon the last 20 minutes of data. Yahoo's RSI is using a 14 period lookback on an undetermined timeframe (you could maybe mouse-over and see what incremental part of the chart is giving) and given the ""choppier"" price chart, probably 30 second or 1 minute bars.   Given the difference in both the period specified and the periodicity of the charts - you should expect different results." Look at the 'as of'.  Google's as of is 11:27 whil Yahoo's is 11:19.  Given the shape of the Google curve, it looks to me that Yahoo's may well drop that much in the next 8 minutes. In fact, looking at it now, Yahoo's algorithm showed it as about 30 at 11:24, before going back up again some.  It may not have been identical to Google's, but it was certainly close.
Relative Strength Indicators are also trailing indicators.  They are based on the number of recent upticks or downticks in an investment's price.  (The size of a tick is quantized, and related to the investment's price.)  By the time enough upticks have accumulated to generate a buy signal, the investment has already increased in price significantly.  Similarly, by the time enough downticks have accumulated a to generate a sell signal, the investment has already dropped in price significantly. The theory of Relative Strength Indicators is based on the hope that moves found by these indicators are likely to continue after the signal is generated.  But even if this is the case, someone who relies on these indicators will miss out on the first part of the move. Dorsey-Wright offers investment research based on the theory of Relative Strength Indicators.  They offer investment vehicles based on this research.  They also work with local investment advisors to develop custom back-tested strategies.  They have published a white-paper, with references to others' research. What you're referring to is the yield.  The issue with these sorts of calculations is that the dividend isn't guaranteed until it's declared.  It may have paid the quarterly dividend like clockwork for the last decade, that does not guarantee it will pay this quarter.   Regarding question number 2.  Yield is generally an after the fact calculation.  Dividends are paid out of current or retained earnings.  If the company becomes hot and the stock price doubles, but earnings are relatively similar, the dividend will not be doubled to maintain the prior yield; the yield will instead be halved because the dividend per share was made more expensive to attain due to the increased share price.   As for the calculation, obviously your yield will likely vary from the yield published on services like Google and Yahoo finance.  The variation is strictly based on the price you paid for the share.  Dividend per share is a declared amount.  Assuming a $10 share paying a quarterly dividend of $0.25 your yield is: Now figure that you paid $8.75 for the share. Now the way dividends are allocated to shareholders depends on dates published when the dividend is declared.  The day you purchase the share, the day your transaction clears etc are all vital to being paid a particular dividend.  Here's a link to the SEC with related information: https://www.sec.gov/answers/dividen.htm I suppose it goes without saying but, historical dividend payments should not be your sole evaluation criteria.  Personally, I would be extremely wary of a company paying a 40% dividend ($1 quarterly dividend on a $10 stock), it's very possible that in your example bar corp is a more sound investment. Additionally, this has really nothing to do with P/E (price/earnings) ratios. On the web have a major scale business website, for example, Amazon, eBay, shopclues etc. When your business website additionally connected the web index like yahoo, google, and bing through the internet this is known as the Business to business directory. You can list your business in global trade connect business directory and get a huge buyer from all over the world. Else you are really missing a huge opportunity to find the online searcher. Another possibly more flexible option is Yahoo finance here is an example for the dow.. http://finance.yahoo.com/q/hp?s=%5EDJI&a=9&b=1&c=1928&d=3&e=10&f=2012&g=d&z=66&y=0 Some of the individual stocks you can dl directly to a spreadsheet (not sure why this isn't offer for indexs but copy and paste should work). http://finance.yahoo.com/q/hp?s=ACTC.OB+Historical+Prices It looks like GOOG did not have a pre-market trade until 7:14 am ET, so Google Finance was still reporting the last trade it had, which was in the after-hours session yesterday. FB, on the other hand, was trading like crazy after-hours yesterday and pre-market today as it had an earnings report yesterday. Try Google Finance Screener ; you will be able to filter for NASDAQ and NYSE exchanges. "Yes, there are a lot of places you can research stocks online, Google Finance, Yahoo Finance, Reuters etc. It's important to understand that the price of the stock doesn't actually mean anything.  Share price is just a function of the market capitalization divided by the number of shares outstanding.  As an example take two companies that are both worth $1 million, but Company A has issued 10,000 shares and Company B has issued 100,000 shares.  Company A has a share price of $100 while Company B has a share price of just $10.  Comparing share price does nothing to indicate the relative value or health of Company A versus Company B.   I know there are supposed to be no product recommendations but the dictionary area of investopedia.com is a good source of beginner investing information.  And as Joe points out below the questions here with the ""stock"" tag would also be a good place to start.  And while I'm on a roll, the book ""A Random Walk Down Wall Street"" is a good starting point in investing in the stock market." Are you implying that Amazon is a better investment than GE because Amazon's P/E is 175 while GE's is only 27?  Or that GE is a better investment than Apple because Apple's P/E is just 13.  There are a lot of other ratios to consider than P/E.  I personally view high P/E numbers as a red flag.  One way to think of a P/E ratio is the number of years it's expected for the company to earn its market cap.  (Share price divided by annual earnings per share)  It will take Amazon 175 years to earn $353 billion. If I was going to buy a dry cleaners, I would not pay the owner 175 years of earnings to take control of it, I'd never see my investment back. To your point.  There is so much future growth seemingly built in to today's stock market that even when a company posts higher than expected earnings, the company's stock may take a hit because maybe future prospects are a little less bright than everyone thought yesterday. The point of fundamental analysis is that you want to look at a company's management style and financial strategies.  How is it paying its debt?  How is it accumulating the debt?  How is it's return on assets?  How is the return on assets trending?  This way when you look at a few companies in the same market segment you may have a better shot at picking the winner over time.  The company that piles on new debt for every new project is likely to continue that path in to oblivion, regardless of the P/E ratio. (or some other equally less forward thinking management practice that you uncover in your fundamental analysis efforts). And I'll add... No amount of historical good decision making from a company's management can prepare for a total market downturn, or lack of investor confidence in general.  The market is the market; sometimes it's up irrationally, sometimes it's down irrationally.