What We Cover

With tens of thousands of companies to cover, how does Edward Jones determine which stocks to follow and recommend to individual investors? As a general rule, we follow what are considered "blue chip" companies. Before we issue an opinion on a stock - Buy, Hold or Sell - we could research the company for months or even years. We aren't swayed by fads or short-term results, and you shouldn't be either.

How We Select Individual Stocks:
We recommend stocks that we believe will perform well over the long term. We like to see an established track record and healthy business fundamentals. The filters we use when evaluating a stock include:

• Country
  We primarily look at companies headquartered in the United States, Canada and Western Europe. The accounting standards and reporting regulations are similar and we are better able to evaluate their potential performance.
  

• Longevity
  We typically cover companies that have a long, stable operating history. In many cases, this is 10 years or more. By demonstrating success for a longer period of time, the company and its management team have likely weathered various business, economic and market cycles.

• Safety
  We can never guarantee that a stock is always going to be a "safe" investment, but companies with investment-grade debt or no debt are typically stronger companies than those that do not meet this criteria.

• Size
  We usually look at companies that have at least $1 billion in sales and $2.5 billion in market capitalization.

• Analysis
  We study a company for months or longer before issuing an opinion. During this process, we typically meet with company managers, employees, study the competition, attend company events, analyze the financials, learn about their products and services, interview customers, company leaders and competitors.

  Because stock performance cannot be guaranteed, diversification is critical in helping ensure you achieve your financial goals.

  Analyst Rules and Regulations
  We don't allow our analysts to own stocks of the companies they follow or companies followed by others on their team. In addition, Edward Jones analysts are not compensated based on investment banking business.