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Personal finance

How to use HL's share research

We explain how our share research can you help support you to invest with confidence.

Important information - This article isn’t personal advice. If you’re not sure whether an investment is right for you please seek advice. If you choose to invest the value of your investment will rise and fall, so you could get back less than you put in.

This article is more than 1 year old

It was correct at the time of publishing. Our views and any references to tax, investment, and pension rules may have changed since then.

Our share research makes it easier for you to get the most out of your investments.

Research is usually split into two sections, a factual update on recent trading, and ‘our view’.

‘Our view’ gives you a summary of the opportunities and threats we think each company faces, and highlights any wider issues we think you should know about. It should let you know whether we think the outlook for the company is good or bad.

Does this mean we give stock tips?

No. We’ll give our opinion on a company’s strategy and circumstances, but we don’t offer ‘buy’, ‘sell’ or ‘hold’ recommendations.

That’s because no two investors are identical. A higher-risk growth company, for example, is suitable for some investors, but not all. A simple ‘buy’ recommendation wouldn’t be appropriate.

Instead we try and highlight companies with interesting characteristics and give you enough information to make your own decision on whether or not to buy or sell. As ever with stock market investing there are no guarantees though.

How to use our share research

This means we’ll focus more on the longer-term investment case than if we think shares look expensive or cheap at the moment. Over the long term we think good companies will deliver good results for shareholders.

That said, we don’t completely ignore valuation – and you’ll see us use historical ratios to give you an idea of how a company is valued compared to in the past.

We generally update our research when companies report results. That’s usually four times a year, but you could hear from us more often if a company is involved in a takeover or issues a profit warning.

Where to find it

You can find our research on share factsheets, and collected together in the share research and insight section.

If you own shares in one of the companies we write about we’ll send you any new research when it’s written, but you can also sign up for research on shares you’re interested in but don’t hold.

Interesting, easy and enjoyable

Our share updates will never be a complete replacement for your own research. And they aren’t personal advice or a recommendation to trade. But we hope they make it easier to keep tabs on your investments, and spark some interesting investment ideas.

Most of all we hope you find the research enjoyable and easy to read. Investing shouldn’t be hard work.

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Written by
Sophie Lund-Yates
Sophie Lund-Yates
Lead Equity Analyst

Sophie is a lead on our Equity Research team, providing research and regular articles on a selection of individual companies and wider sectors. Sophie's specialities are Retail, Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG), Aerospace & Defence as well as a few of the big tech names including Facebook and Apple.

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Article history
Published: 30th April 2024