Yahoo Finance versus Google Finance

What is going on with Yahoo Finance, the Yahoo (YHOO) investment web site? They have changed the Finance home page dramatically, and for the worse. I tried looking for their stock screener, couldn't find it anywhere even after clicking around on a lot of links. The word 'screener' didn't appear anywhere on the page.

I finally had to go to Yahoo Search, type in 'Yahoo Finance screener', and the first result I clicked on brought me to their old html screener. After clicking a couple other link results, I finally got to their Java screener. What a hassle.

The Yahoo Finance home page doesn't have the Industry link either, and I couldn't even fine 'Industry' on the page either. I've also noticed a few other strange quirks with it; for example, I've notices for several stocks, the P/E ratio on the stock front page doesn't match the forward or trailing P/E on the Key Statistics page. Same problem occasionally with the dividend.

Have you looked at Google Finance provided by Google (GOOG)? It is still in beta, but it has several interesting features. First, as you type in the name of a company or stock symbol, it automatically gives you a pop-over which lists various suggestions based on what you are typing. It has a lot more detailed information on non-US stocks from around the world.

Minor disadvantages of Google Finance are that it doesn't show all the popular ratios that Yahoo does, such as the PEG. For foreign stocks, it shows profit margin and operating margin information, but not the P/E or P/S.

It will be interesting to see who will be the winner of this battle when Google Finance comes out of beta.