Our annual survey of Websites finds steady improvement
Kathy Yakal
Oct 25, 1999
'Net Gains for Investors Our annual survey of Websites finds steady improvement
Evolutionary, not revolutionary. That pretty well describes the past year for the Internet investment sites Barron's has been monitoring. And that's good news. Website developers (for the most part) are learning what desktop software developers discerned several years ago: All the features and data in the world are for naught unless they're clear and easily accessible.
But we're still in the early stages of this revelation. Which means you'll still find sites crammed with so much minutia that you'll waste time just learning your way around. Or their offerings are sparse and hard to find anyway. A few sites continue to charge for resources that are free elsewhere, hoping you won't notice. And hype rules. Anyone can put up a Website, so if you're prone to taking advice from them, find out who they are and why you should listen to them.
At the same time, Websites are providing information to individuals that previously was reserved for the professionals. If you've spent much time combing these sites for a few months or years, you're apt to be rather jaded. "Well, of course you offer free portfolios and fundamental data and breaking news and message boards and e-mail alerts. What do you have that's fresh?"
The sites that have risen to that challenge have done so in a number of ways. Some excel in one area -- editorial content, for example -- while providing reasonably good resources in other areas. Others opt for better tools for getting investors through the early stages of using the site and learning about the market. Still others forge alliances with other sites that already excel in some areas, bringing the best stuff together in a single place.
It's not fair to expect an investment site to be all things to all people, but in our third year of this survey, we continue to give top honors to those that have excelled in all of our categories ( Barron's , The Wall Street Journal, Smart Money and CNBC. (Forbes, we would note, last month named the WSJ Interactive Edition, which includes Barron's Online, as its favorite business-news site on the Web.) While there were no real surprises in this year's list of bests, there's been plenty of movement. Some perennial favorites hung on, some dropped off, and a few new ones debuted.
We used the same ranking system as in previous years, with one exception. Since so few sites aimed at individual investors continue to charge for any of their content -- and if they do, it's minimal -- we eliminated the Price category. Sites that still hit you up for fees lost a point in the Ease of Use category.
Ease of Use is perhaps the most difficult category to rank subjectively, but it's increasingly critical to a site's success. As Websites swell with more and more content, investors must wade through an increasing amount of information. And frequently slowly, especially on dial-up connections to the Web, which the vast majority of 'Net surfers use. To snag a high score in this category, a Website must not only look appealing and professional, but also present a bird's-eye view of what's available upfront. Graphics should never overload the site, causing slowdowns, and navigational cues must be obvious. The basic criterion is how fast you can get where you're going.
Second, we looked at Depth and Usefulness of Data. Does the site provide fundamental data needed for investment decisions, and in a way that makes it usable to you?
Editorial Content was our third criterion. We gave extra marks to sites that provided original analytical content. But since so much content at various sites has been drawn from the same pool of sources, editorial material brought in from elsewhere also counted.
Besides all of this incoming material, the best sites provide ways for you to interact with the experts and with other investors. And to manipulate some of the knowledge you've gleaned. Thus, the Tools and Interactivity category. We looked for discussion boards and chat forums, alerts, screeners, good portfolio trackers, and data exchange (like the ability to download into Excel spreadsheets).
Finally, especially for frequent traders, we ranked sites on their ability to deliver breaking market news to investors quickly, and also to keep up conscientiously with the market when things weren't quite so volatile. We also checked the dates of analyses posted to see if they were refreshed frequently. So Timeliness was our final category.
And the envelope, please.
MoneyCentral ( moneycentral.com ) ****. For the third year in a row, Microsoft's MoneyCentral Website is the best overall site for investors to head to, if only by a hair. Competitors like America Online and Quicken.com come close, but MoneyCentral edges them out in two areas: usability and interactivity.
While MoneyCentral may not have been the first to employ its organizational structure (many Websites employ a similar framework), it works exceptionally well. Enter a ticker symbol on the opening page, and the resulting screen displays a detailed quote and fundamental information. Clicking links on that page takes you to related data for that security, including charts, news, analyst information and insider trading. If you're not exactly sure what to ask for, the Research Wizard will walk you step-by-step through the process of evaluating a company.
Other elements are similarly flexible and simple. You can customize the portfolio tracker to display dozens of views of your data, synchronize the data with the Microsoft Money personal-finance program and download brokerage statements. News, original analysis, investing basics guides, and one of the most powerful stock screeners you'll find anywhere (free, at least) round out the site's offerings.
To be sure, no one investment Website beats out its competition hands-down in all areas. But MoneyCentral comes the closest, and in a fashion that respects its users while providing in-depth data, analysis and tools in a graceful, simple framework. And to top it off, the former $9.95 monthly fee has been eliminated.
America Online Personal Finance Channel
Visit Barron's at www.barrons.com for the latest financial analysis and commentary, updated daily.
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