Buying your first stock?

Let me preface by saying you're probably better off sticking with dividend players and simple option strategies to collect some premium as you enter/exit your investment. I'm also not your financial advisor and most people need one. With that being said, the same principles apply to most investments (if not all...).

The hardest part is "sourcing" an idea, which is why it's nice having a list of high quality companies that you want to own at better prices. Obviously, you want to know everything there is to know about those stocks, which leads to identifying a catalyst. No matter how good a company is, there's a reason it's selling off and you need to understand what's causing trouble for that company and sector.

Take oil for instance, there have been a few discussions on this site regarding the energy markets and with some additional research you can have a pretty good idea of what needs to happen in order to change that dynamic. A few years ago tech was dead, INTC was trading at 21 with a 4.5% dividend yield (not to mention divvy growth). In short, when there is blood on the streets start looking at your list or that sector once you understand what's going on. The pattern here is all of this is easier said than done...

On the other hand, look at the coal sector or precious metal miners. If you didn't understand what was driving prices lower and had bought on 'cheap' fundamentals, which includes not understanding those financials at various prices of said mined material, you would've gotten killed. That's a value trap.

So you have opportunities and value traps, from there assuming you've got a good idea about what is going on, you're looking for quality. Look at dividend yield + divvy history (have they lowered their dividend in the past?), their fundamentals, debt, what different analysts have to say, make your DCF models, comps (important), deals, CEO letter + management track record, institutional ownership, short float and then analyze the price auction to get an idea where the trend is and advantageous prices to get in the game (which will generally line up with your fundamental prices anyways). Compare it with all of the companies in the sector and come out with a shopping list.

I'd leverage analysis from analysts like @"Aswath Damodaran" . When you go to Reuters and look up a company it'll list some of its competitors in the right column. Makes tracking shit down easier.

At that point write out your plan of action/pitch for entering and exiting the investment when the time comes. You need to know when you're wrong, and you need to follow that. You're the most objective when you have no skin in the game and are just interested in the game/pursuit of possible investment ideas. Keep in mind, after you've done your research it's really easy to fall in love with the idea so to speak, your job is to value what you have over what you hope to gain... so becareful.

You're young, so you should probably test out your ideas for a year or two in a mock portfolio and see how you'd do prior to just throwing your hat in the ring. If you're successful, there will always be another opportunity, if not, well it's better to find that out prior to losing your ass.