Companies providing the smart phone or normal cellphones are not the only companies in the telecom sector. There are various distributers which supply signal to these phones. These distributers have themselves become pretty big.

Let us look at some of the popular telecom companies and how they stand in stock market:

AT&T (NYSE: T) – AT&T is having a definite advantage over other providers after tying up with Apple Computers (NASDAQ: AAPL) for the iPhone services. Since iPhone is one of the best selling smart phones, AT&T is riding high on its success.

Verizon (NYSE: VZ) – Verizon is the closest competitor of AT&T. It has been growing very rapidly in the recent past. It has a great network and also a very good chance of tying up with Apple for next year’s IPhone service deal.

Sprint Nextel ((NYSE: S) – Sprint is also having an advantage due to its deal with Palm (NASDAQ: PALM) for its best selling smart phone PRE. It is also priced very favorably for the investors.

Quest (NYSE: Q) – It is also one of the major players but doesn’t has the network to boast off.

Apart from these major players in telecom sector, there is Clearwire (NASDAQ: CLWR) which might become a WIMAX major when it ties up with Sprint Nextel. This company will provide fourth generation telecom network delivering data and voice at a blazing high speed.

When we look at the top smart phone companies, there are more than a few names which come up. Old fashioned cell phones are no longer in demand since everyone wants to own a smart phone. Apple Computers is gaining the market share after the launch of its much hyped iPhone which has become a huge success. There are companies like Dell (NASDAQ: DELL), Nokia (NYSE: NOK), Palm (NASDAQ: PALM), research in Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM), Samsung and Motorola (NYSE: MOT) which are also in the fray to capture the market. Another company which is trying to come to the party is Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) which is not manufacturing the cellphones but its Android platform is beginning to pick up in smart phones. The first one was in HTC which is using G1 from Google Android platform. Microsoft (MSFT) is the main rival of Google in smart phone software and offers a very popular Windows Mobile platform.

As you can see, there are a lot of hot picks in this sector and it may be a bit difficult to determine the best telecom stocks to buy without doing a thorough analysis of their coverage and upcoming products.

Related posts:

1. Stock Market Picks – Best Healthcare stocks
2. Hot stocks to buy – Buy tech stocks, Best tech stocks of the year
3. Best stocks to buy in mid cap companies

Before the recent economic recession, the technology stocks were considered to be one of the best stocks to buy. The technology sector was one of the top performing sectors in the market. But due to current downturn, this sector has taken a beating like any other sector. The credit crunch has forced the companies to layoff employees, stop expansion plans and do whatever they could to minimize the loss.

Now, we are beginning to see signs of recovery, more and more companies will want to get back to their profit making times as early as possible. And one of the best ways to do that is to upgrade themselves to the most updated technology which can provide cutting edge solutions quickly. That is the reason; the technology stocks will be back in business sooner rather than later.

While buying a technology stock, you can decide which type of technology stock you want to buy. If you are looking for stable companies which have become synonymous with technology, you can go with either of the below mentioned companies. All these have been in business for quite some time. Mostly all tech companies are listed in NASDAQ and most of these stable ones are even included in Dow Jones Industrial index.

International Business Machines (IBM)
Cisco Systems (CSCO)
EMC Corp (EMC)
Intel (INTC)
Hewlett-Packard (HPQ)

There are a few online companies which provide software solutions which are very famous. These include Microsoft (MSFT), Google (GOOG), Yahoo Inc (YHOO), Amazon (AMZN) Apple Computers (AAPL) and Oracle (ORCL).

Apart from these famous and well established companies there are companies which are considered to have more upside potential in near future. These companies may become some of the best tech stocks of 2009 and should be looked at if you want to make more money quickly in stock market:

First Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ:FSLR)
Apollo Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:APOL)
Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:ERTS)
Cephalon, Inc. (NASDAQ:CEPH)
Ryanair Holdings plc (ADR) (NASDAQ:RYAAY)
Hansen Natural Corporation (NASDAQ:HANS)
Activision Blizzard, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATVI)
Symantec Corporation (NASDAQ:SYMC)
O’Reilly Automotive, Inc. (NASDAQ:ORLY)
FLIR Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:FLIR)
The DIRECTV Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:DTV)
NII Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:NIHD)
Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA)
Verisign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)
Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD)
Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ:INTU)
DISH Network Corp. (NASDAQ:DISH)
Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST)
Liberty Global Inc. (NASDAQ:LBTYA)
QUALCOMM, Inc. (NASDAQ:QCOM)
Express Scripts, Inc. (NASDAQ:ESRX)
Celgene Corporation (NASDAQ:CELG)
Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp. (NASDAQ:CTSH)
Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX)
Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ:SBUX)
Dell Inc. (NASDAQ:DELL)
Infosys Technologies Limited (ADR) (NASDAQ:INFY)
Logitech International SA (USA) (NASDAQ:LOGI)

These are some of the hot stocks to buy in the technology sector. As with any stock, you should do proper analysis and research to find out whether the stock fits into your investing strategy and risk appetite.

Related posts:

1. Best stocks to buy in mid cap companies
2. Solar Stocks to buy and the best solar stock picks
3. UK blue chip companies – top blue chip companies

Regular trading time is 9.30 am– 4 pm EST

Premarket trading hours are between 7 am – 9.30 am

After hours trading hours are from 4.00 am – 8.00 pm EST.

Before I suggest as to how to buy in the pre market you need to know what ECN’s are.ECN’s are known as Electronic communication networks.

What are ECN’S?

ECN’s are also known as the Alternative trading systems. They are huge communication networks that automatically match the buyers and the sellers with each other and make sure that like in regular trading the buyer and the seller match and trade executes.

Initially these were only open to market makers and broker–dealers and the institutional investors but now they are open to general public.

These ECN’s are linked to the NASDAQ via the Selectnet

The names of the ECN’s out there currently are

Instinet,

Island

Tradebook

ArchIpelago

REDIbook,

BRUT,

Attain,

Nextrade

MarkeXT

Most of the listed securities in NASDAQ are also traded on these ECN’s

There are risks involved with buying the shares after hours and pre market hours and these are that you will generally have less liquidity as the number of buyers and sellers for a particular stock will be less.

Also in general there will be a tough chance that you will as a individual investors will be able to compete with the people who are there and those are the professional mangers from mutual fund companies as well as institutional brokerages.

The benefit is that you may get a leg up on the competition as most companies announce their results after hours and you will be able to net in some gains. That said there is no sure shot way that you can predict the stock market opening the next day and hence be very careful when you buy stocks.

Most brokerage companies offer the extended hours trading facility so if you have a discount brokerage firm then they generally will offer the extended hours facility via one of the ECN’s I have listed above. Some may use the Instinet or some may use Archipelago.

So if you are signing up a new brokerage account then check if they have premarket and the after hours trading facility.

NASDAQ pre market

NASADQ has an indicator called the NASDAQ 100 pre market indicator which can tell how the market is moving in the pre market.

NASDAQ after hours

NASDAQ 100 after hours indicator will be able to tell you how the market doing in the after hours. It is similar to the NASDAQ 100 apart from the fact that it will help you invest in the after hours seeing the trend of the market.

Related posts:

1. NASDAQ 100 pre market indicator and the NASDAQ 100 after Hours Indicator
2. After hours stock quotes – Should you do after hours trading?
3. EMini Trading – E-mini S&P 500, E-mini NASDAQ and Emini Dow Jones

The NASDAQ in full form means the National association of securities dealers and automated quotations. By that definition it started out as an association whereby quotes were sent in an automated manner to the members and then using this information these securities dealers could then trade as they wanted to and also they were not dependent on the jobbers as well as the market makers.

 Now in its current NASDAQ is completely an online system of trading and there is no trading which is done which is done on the floor unlike NYSE.

 If you really want to learn about the definition of NASDAQ then you need to read my post about NASDAQ and the way it works.  

NASDAQ later acquired the American Stock exchange and is now the largest firm in the world in terms of average trades per day.  

Another factor why NASDAQ is popular is because NASDAQ has all the more technology stocks than other stock exchange. In the current US economy technology companies drive the nations economy as opposed to manufacturing companies which have been shipped to China and India.  

As is with every other exchange NASDAQ also has its own set of indices and the most famous of them all is NASD 100 as well as the NASDAQ composite.

 That said there are several other indices which have been put together by the NASDAQ for various sectors of the economy.

 Tip For beginners : Invest in a good investment software before you even start thinking baout making money in the stock market.  

As a stock market for beginners advice you should not get bogged by these sheer numbers of indices and instead should just focus on the broader index and it is only when you have achieved a good number of years in the trading arena and are ready to move to sector specific stocks and their tracking that you would need the sector specific indices.

 Other competing indexes which are there are the S&P 500, Dow Jones as well as the indexes from the rating companies like Moody’s.  

NASDAQ on its part alos has several listing rules and regulations for the companies but those are less stringent than the NYSE.

Related posts:

1. Stock Market investing for beginners – What is a Stock Market Index?
2. Explain P/E ratio for stocks – The Secret weapon for beginners
3. What is the definition of NASDAQ

NASDAQ components

NASDAQ holidays

Dow Nasdaq and what do they mean to you

NASDAQ ticker

NASDAQ chart

Let us start with NASDAQ history and how it all started. NASDAQ was started in 1971 by the National Association of Securities Dealers and at that time it was just a bulletin board service providing the quotes and there was no way that you can connect buyers and sellers .

Since then it has gone to form the computer based trading where the trades go through a electronic system and the buyers and sellers get connected via computer based trading facility.

As far as the company that owns NASDAQ, it is the NASDAQ-OMX group which now owns the Nordic based exchange OMX also has control of the Philadelphia stock exchange called PHLX and it now as about eight stock exchanges in Europe. It also has the stake in Dubai Stock exchange and that means it is now a serious competition to NYSE -Euronext.

I will explain difference between NASDAQ and NYSE a little later in the post because a stock market for beginners you should know that.

NASDAQ Stands for National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotation.

This NASDAQ definition now kind of gives enough insight into what the exchanges was supposed to give originally and how it works in an automated fashion.
NASDAQ after hours trading

NASDAQ offers after hours trading and pre market trading in between the following times which means that you can gauge the market sentiment before the market opens up for that day and also get to trade in the post market session to make sure that you can take part in stock market activity in case of any news and any other big happening after the market close. Then you ca go ahead and buy stock when the market opens.

Pre Market – 7AM-9.30 AM

After hours session is – 4:00PM -8:00PM

What is NASDAQ 100 and what is NASDAQ composite.

These are two main indices which NASDAQ offers and I will explain NASDAQ 100 to help you understand how the NASDAQ index works.

But first the listing of the NASDAQ 100 companies and these companies may change from time to time

Company Name

Activision Blizzard, Inc (ATVI)

Adobe Systems Incorporated(ADBE)

Akamai Technologies, Inc.(AKAM)

Altera Corporation(ALTR)

Amazon.com, Inc.(AMZN)

Amgen Inc.(AMGN)

Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Inc.(AMLN)

Apollo Group, Inc.(APOL)

Apple Inc.(AAPL)

Applied Materials, Inc.(AMAT)

Autodesk, Inc.(AUD)

Baidu.com, Inc.(BIDU)

Bed Bath & Beyond Inc.(BBBY)

Biogen Idec Inc(BIIB)

Broadcom Corporation(BRCM)

C.H. Robinson Worldwide, Inc.(CHRW)

CA Inc.(CA)

Cadence Design Systems, Inc.(CDNS)

Celgene Corporation(CELG)

Cephalon, Inc.(CEPH)

Check Point Software Technologies Ltd.(CHKP)

Cintas Corporation(CTAS)

Cisco Systems, Inc.(CSCO)

Citrix Systems, Inc.(CTXS)

Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation(CTSH)

Comcast Corporation(CMCSA)

Costco Wholesale Corporation(COST)

Dell Inc.(DELL)

DENTSPLY International Inc.(XRAY)

Discovery Communications, Inc(DISCA)

DISH Network Corporation(DISH)

eBay Inc.(EBAY)

Electronic Arts Inc.(ERTS)

Expedia, Inc.(EXPE)

Expeditors International of Washington, Inc.(EXPD)

Express Scripts, Inc.(ESRX)

Fastenal Company(FAST)

Fiserv, Inc.(FISV)

Flextronics International Ltd.(FL;EX)

FLIR Systems, Inc.(FLIR)

Focus Media Holding Limited(FMCN)

Foster Wheeler Ltd.(FWLT)

Garmin Ltd.(GRMN)

Genzyme Corporation(GENZ)

Gilead Sciences, Inc.(GILD)

Google Inc.(GOOG)

Hansen Natural Corporation(HANS)

Henry Schein, Inc.(HSIC)

Hologic, Inc.(HOLX)

IAC/InterActiveCorp(IACI)

Infosys Technologies Limited(INFY)

Intel Corporation(INTC)

Intuit Inc.(INTU)

Intuitive Surgical, Inc.(ISRG)

Joy Global Inc.(JOYG)

Juniper Networks, Inc.(JNPR)

KLA-Tencor Corporation(KLAC)

Lam Research Corporation(LRCX)

Lamar Advertising Company(LAMR)

Leap Wireless International, Inc.(LEAP)

Level 3 Communications, Inc.(LVLT)

Liberty Global, Inc.(LBTY)

Liberty Media Corporation(LMDI)

Linear Technology Corporation(LLTC)

Logitech International S.A.(LOGI)

Marvell Technology Group, Ltd.(MRVL)

Microchip Technology Incorporated(MCHP)

Microsoft Corporation(MSFT)

Millicom International Cellular S.A.(MICC)

Monster Worldwide, Inc.(MWW)

NetApp, Inc.(NTAP)

NII Holdings, Inc.(NIHD)

NVIDIA Corporation(NVDA)

Oracle Corporation(ORCL)

PACCAR Inc.(PCAR)

Patterson Companies Inc.(PDCO)

Paychex, Inc.(PAYX)

PetSmart, Inc(PETM)

QUALCOMM Incorporated(QCOM)

Research in Motion Limited(RIMM)

Ryanair Holdings plc(RYA)

SanDisk Corporation(SNDK)

Sears Holdings Corporation(SHLD)

Sigma-Aldrich Corporation(SIAL)

Sirius XM Radio Inc.(SIRI)

Staples, Inc.(SPLS)

Starbucks Corporation(SBUX)

Steel Dynamics, Inc.(STLD)

Stericycle, Inc.(SRCL)

Sun Microsystems, Inc.(JAVA)

Symantec Corporation(SYMC)

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Limited(TEVA)

The DIRECTV Group, Inc.(DTV)

VeriSign, Inc.(VRSN)

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated(VRTX)

Virgin Media Inc.(VMED)

Whole Foods Market, Inc.(WFMI)

Wynn Resorts, Limited(WYNN)

Xilinx, Inc.(XLNX)

Yahoo! Inc.(YHOO)

There are certain criteria as to why and how the company is included into the index but primarily the main criteria is

1. The security’s U.S. listing must be exclusively on the Nasdaq National Market (unless the security was dually listed on another U.S. market prior to January 1, 2004 and has continuously maintained such listing);

2. The security must be of a non-financial company;

3. The security may not be issued by an issuer currently in bankruptcy proceedings;

4. The security must have average daily trading volume of at least 200,000 shares;

NASDAQ 100 is the stock market index of 100 largest domestic and international non-financial companies on the NASDAQ. This index is the modified market value weighted index, which essentially means that companies have weights based on the market capitalization.

Two main differences between NASDAQ 100 and Dow Jones and S&P 500 is that these companies do exclude non financial companies from being part of the index and also these do not have the non US companies in the index which NASDAQ does have.

Again I will explain what is difference between NASDAQ-100 and the NASDAQ Composite which is commonly referred to as the NASDAQ in the media.

NASDAQ composite is the stock market index of all the common stocks and similar securities which includes ADR’s, tracking stocks and limited partnership interests. What this means is that NASDAQ composite has about 3000 components which practically all the stocks that are listed on the NASDAQ.

It is followed very thoroughly as an indicator of the performance of the US economy and that means that it is a true indicator of the health of the technology stocks and the growth stocks.

When NASDAQ composite was launched

NASDAQ composite was launched in 1971 with a base of 100 points and this index is market capitalization weighted.

Here is what the NASDAQ site has to say about it as far inclusion criteria goes “To be eligible for inclusion in the Composite the security’s U.S. listing must be exclusively on the Nasdaq Stock Market (unless the security was dually listed on another U.S. market prior to January 1, 2004 and has continuously maintained such listing), and have a security type of either:

American Depositary Receipts (ADRs)
Common Stock
Limited Partnership Interests
Ordinary Shares
Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs)
Shares of Beneficial Interest (SBIs)
Tracking Stocks

Security types not included in the Index are closed-end funds, convertible debentures, exchange traded funds, preferred stocks, rights, warrants, units and other derivative securities. ”

Something on the NASDAQ Penny Stock List

Penny stocks have no minimum listing requirements and hence they are traded on the OTCBB exchange and as far as the penny stocks on NASDAQ go they were there when the tech bubble burst but they either have to shore up their balance sheets or they have to delist.a Always research properly before investing.

Related posts:

1. Explain NASDAQ for beginners
2. NASDAQ 100 pre market indicator and the NASDAQ 100 after Hours Indicator
3. EMini Trading – E-mini S&P 500, E-mini NASDAQ and Emini Dow Jones