To determine whether it's the right time to buy shares or short them, you must find the answers to two very different questions:

• Is the company healthy?
• Is the company's stock healthy?

The answer to the first question requires something the investment community calls fundamental analysis. You need to determine exactly what goods or services the company makes or sells, whether consumer like them, and how much power the company has over setting their prices. You need to figure out whether the company is financially sound, whether it's growing faster than its peers, and whether the marketplace appreciates the company for its deeds. You need to use traditional techniques to measure whether the current stock price fairly reflects its fundamental value. Finally, you need to know whether any catalysts on the horizon (such as management changes or product introduction) might change the market's perceptions of the company's value.

The answer to the second question requires something investors call technical analysis. This might sounds scary, but it's really just an investigation of the balance between supply and demand for the company's stock. You need to determine how much investors have been willing to pay for shares of the company in the past and how much they're likely to pay in the future. You also need to know whether the stock price trend is essentially up or down, and whether that trend is likely to change soon. An you need to know whether trading volume is swelling or ebbing, since volume is the fuel of the market.

Enter symbol of the company you would like to research in the box below and click "Research" button to get free Fundamental and Technical Research.

Symbol: Canadian (TSX):