SHARES AND STOCK NIGERIA

What criteria would a buyer use to determine which shares are among the best for investing in? Some people buy shares just for the sake of yearly dividends that they get, in fact most Nigerians prefer that but the true value of a company should not be in just how much dividends they pay.

Other things to be considered include:
- Long term debts
- Capital appreciation
- Market value
- Earnings
- Assets

As an investor, it could be helpful to you if you get access to the company's online portfolio and look at historical and current market values so as to make the right decisions between say, company A and B and
deciding which one to buy rather than the other.

When to buy shares
The best times to buy shares are when the prices are low or undervalued. Now, in Nigeria, after the stock market crash, a couple of stocks are still undervalued and others are actually at their true values since they didn't do too good.

If the market report is good and the company has been doing well, but it's price is still undervalued, then it's a good buy. It is also good to buy shares during a time of inflation especially in companies related to consumer goods so as to hedge against inflation.

So which shares are best to buy?
If I was asked to buy shares, my personal opinion will be to buy shares of companies that are still safe and moderately priced such as the following:

- UBA
- Fidelity bank
- First bank
- Sterling bank
- Diamond bank
- Unity Bank
- Dangote Sugar
- Honeywell
- May and Baker
- Cornerstone insurance

So before buying any shares in Nigeria, try to research a bit on them, if possible, get their company report and find news reports about them for the past 3 years.

The best price to buy shares of a company is when it is as about N0.50 since that is their least value no matter what. The closer you are to buying from 0.50, the higher your chances of making profit when it appreciates.