Stockopedia announces results of its 2010 Online Investor survey. Many frustrated by lack of access to professional research and to company management. Majority regard online social networking as crucial to making investment decisions.
Online investors have made their voices heard in a 2010 Online Investor survey released today by Stockopedia, the UK’s leading financial media community site. The survey, which queried individual investors online, found that 61% said they did not have enough access to professional research to make investment decisions, with 57% saying the thing that frustrated them most about UK investment websites was their difficulty in accessing this kind of research.
It was also clear from the survey that today’s investors rely heavily on online information, with 57% of investors deriving information from online sources, and over 40% of respondents saying they typically used between 4-5 online news and data sources to track their portfolios.
“The survey results demonstrate the appetite online investors have for professional level research and analysis,” says Edward Croft, Stockopedia’s CEO. “Online access to commentary and analysis has not kept pace with the widespread availability of sophisticated internet trading tools such as direct market access, level 2 prices and leveraged products. The worry is that online investors now have the toolbox to run mini hedge funds from their laptops but are still restricted in their access to the instruction manual.”
One of Stockopedia’s goals is to provide sophisticated online investors with the kind of stimulating analysis, research and tools that were once only accessible by City institutions. Stockopedia has partnered with content providers such as Edison Investment Research and Equity Development to provide this type of commentary, recognising that information access is key to helping investors make better and more informed decisions.
The survey also uncovered a rising anxiety amongst individual investors at their lack of direct access to company management, with 14% listing this as their biggest frustration. One respondent bemoaned the failure of companies to engage online saying ”it would be relatively easy to provide web casts of AGMs, analyst presentations, regular investor updates, project status reports and interviews with management but very few companies do any of the above”.
Industry heavyweights share Stockopedia’s view that UK companies need to be much more open about information. “Many smaller shareholders suffer from a lack of access to…
