How And Where To Find Future Stock Winners.(A)(INVESTOR'S CORNER)

Byline: David Saito-Chung

The Internet has become a wonderful source of information about stocks and companies. But don't let it bog you down.

If you want to own future leaders of the market, don't waste valuable time trying to find them on message boards or in chat rooms. Why? They're grounded in opinions, which don't drive a stock's gains in the long term. Facts do.

IBD is designed to give you all the facts needed to find the next big winners. Those who use the paper's unique features as well as www.investors.com have allthe tools they need to buy a stock that can score double- or triple-digit returns.

Individuals can access reports from Wall Street analysts via the Internet. While these contain a lot of telling data and well-researched information, theyalone won't tell you, as an individual investor, the right time to buy and sell.

A great stock tends to have excellent earnings and sales growth, hearty marginsand a high return on equity. It's not thought to be a leader in its field; it is the leader or among the top three.

A top stock is usually part of a hot industry group that's leading the market. It also enjoys high demand by institutions.If a stock has all of these elements, more likely than not it's getting a lot of airplay in IBD. In other words, the paper does much of the research for you.