So long as you read data from a URL, the EJB spec does not have a problem with that. Try to use the following to help you achieve the solution
1. Try to have atomic URL calls (not a multi request-response back and forth communication). You can have a URL call to a server to read the stock quote, parse the response and send it back to your client.
2. Even better have a POJO to do this job, so that your bean code appears cleaner.
3. If you need timeout for your connection try using the HTTPUtils class in the apache
soap implementation (I think the package is org.apache.soap.util.net , I am not too sure though)
4. Check to see if your appserver is not in a DMZ (De-militarized Zone). If it is you need to open ports in firewalls, also find out if you need a proxy for outgoing connections.
5. From the 'Best Practices' perspective the connector architecture would be a good bet, but I think it might be an overkill for something as small as a stock quote fetch (But will get you kudos from your application architect)
--pradeeP