OK, I’m going to do something a bit different today in the Tycoon Report.

Ever since I launched my new Investor Education Series, I’ve gotten a TON of feedback from Tycoon Report readers – whether it be questions, suggestions, comments, or whatever – it’s always well thought through and forces me to write at least a page-long (if not more) reply.

So I figured since these exchanges between myself and other Tycoon Report readers were so good – I might as well share them with everybody.

Today I’ll be highlighting some of the questions that I’ve found to be the most useful to the general readers of the Tycoon Report – you might have even been the person who asked one of these questions, in which case you’ve already gotten a reply – so I’ll try to elaborate even further in my replies for this article.

I’ll get right down to it!

Q.  Wayne, here is one question which I hope you can accommodate.  You talk a lot about Wireless communications taking off.  Do you think the fixed line Telecom sector is unlikely to return to growth now?

A:  That’s a great question, and in my opinion the answer is yes, fixed-line telecom is unlikely to show any significant growth in the coming years.  The advent of mobile communications is the most obvious reason for this, but there are a couple of other factors that are making an impact as well.

One of them is the proliferation of broadband connections.  

These days, folks don’t need a telephone to get access to the internet – the majority of Internet connections in the US is no longer “dial-up”, but rather high-speed broadband connections.

Broadband has also enabled a new class of communications to emerge – Voice Over IP (VOIP.)  This technology allows people to make phone calls directly from their computers, which obviously has a number of adverse implications for fixed line telecom companies.

For one thing, instead of picking up a phone to make a call, somebody can now simply plug a microphone/headphones into his or her computer, and then it's off to the races.  

Best part is, Internet phone calls don’t carry the same charges as a fixed-line call.

So not only is the call easier to make (services like Skype allow you to make calls as you’re chatting online,) but it’s cheaper too!

Since all of these calls are being made over high speed connections, it’s caused the cable companies to perk up and start offering phone services along with their cable and high-speed internet packages — completely nullifying the fixed-line operators.

I mean, who would want to pay multiple companies every month when he could get all of his communications needs from a single provider at a much cheaper price?

So, with the spread of wireless and broadband communications I wouldn’t think an investor would be looking towards the fixed line operators for any significant growth in the coming years.

(Note:  The following is a 2 part question that came in response to a particular section of my Investor Education Series)

Q.  Where would I find those companies?  Since I work all day long, I don't have the time and resources to find these companies.  When a company is identified, how would I know when to buy and when to sell?

A.  This is another great set of questions and questions that I’m sure many Tycoon Report readers can relate to.

As you know, I, along with my other Tycoon Report editors, write a lot about the general framework we use for making investing decisions – not necessarily specific investment situations.

Whether it be Chris Rowe talking about options strategies, Teeka Tiwari discussing point & figure charting techniques, Dylan Jovine going over the importance of Return on Equity or Jason Jovine talking about the economic factors that will affect the market – we tend to take the approach of, “Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime.”

But by the same token, I know that for an investor with limited time and experience in the market, those articles might become a bit frustrating at times.

The information within them is golden, but as for actually implementing the strategies we discuss, it might leave some Tycoon Report readers feeling out in the cold, so to speak.

So here are a couple of strategies that may help you quickly “screen” for stocks that match the criteria we discuss in our Tycoon Report articles.

Many finance sites have built-in stock screeners – Yahoo! Finance is one of them, and BusinessWeek.com also has one.

So, let’s say I talk about the Wireless sector a lot.  How are you supposed to find a great investment opportunity in an emerging sector like this?

Easy – use one of the stock screening tools I just mentioned.

Now, some screeners are obviously better than others, but they all do the trick.

What you want to do is open up the Yahoo! screener (http://screen.yahoo.com/stocks.html) and then select “Wireless Communications” as the sector of choice.

Now, most free stock screeners are limited in the amount of fundamental data they’ll let you search on.  But Yahoo!’s gives you enough criteria to begin the filtering process and start you off with a decent basket of stocks to dig through.

So, I’d begin by choosing a company with a profit margin of at least 10% - it would preferably be higher, but this is a good starting point.

Then I’d choose a P/E ratio that is no higher than 20.  If we’re looking to find bargain stocks, even in tech, only special growth situations would carry a P/E higher than 20.

Now we hit the ‘Search’ button and we’re good to go.

I just got a list of maybe 11 stocks, 2 of which I was already looking at due to the results of another screening tool I use – Value Line.  Value Line isn’t a free service like Yahoo!; it’s much more sophisticated, and I wouldn’t recommend paying for it if your time is limited and you don’t have a solid grasp of financial statement and stock analysis.

Simple screeners like Yahoo! are perfect for giving yourself a nice starting point for your research.

The other thing you can do, and I say this from a completely objective perspective, is find a newsletter service you like (or two or three) and subscribe to it.  Services like Tech Stock Insider are there to mainly save you the time of searching the financial universe for investment ideas.

That goes for any of the Tycoon services – you have the benefit of using our collective experience, brain power and research tools to do the homework you just don’t have the time to do.

What you do with that information from there is up to you.

And as for Buy & Sell points – “different strokes for different folks.”

I’m a value investor – so I’ll buy a stock when it looks absolutely terrible, when nobody else wants it.

But there are other people who write for the Tycoon Report who are technical analysts who will only buy a stock if its chart looks good.

I think the real trick is to find a school of thought you agree and identify with and then learn as much as you can about it.  Making money in the market isn’t easy, but it doesn’t have to be impossible if you put in a little bit of leg work early on.

There are a ton of other questions I could answer, but I think that’s enough for today.  Please, keep the questions coming.  You might find yours being featured here in the Tycoon Report!

Until next week …