Stock Screeners: Finding the Stock You Want By Investopedia Staff, (Investopedia.com) Contact Investopedia November 21, 2001
We'll be the first to admit that selecting good stocks isn't easy. At last count, there were over 10,000 publicly traded companies in North America. The sheer volume of companies makes narrowing down your search quite difficult. In a way, the huge amount of data on the Web doesn't make things any easier - it's hard to sort out what is useful. Fortunately, there is the stock screener, one of the best tools available to help with this task. Stock Screening Basics Stock screening is the process of finding companies that meet certain financial criteria. A stock screener has three components: a database of companies, a set of variables by which to screen the companies and a screening engine that compares the companies to the variables and generates a list of matches. Using a screener is quite easy. First you answer a series of questions: do you like large-cap or small-caps?; are you looking for stock prices at all-time highs, or companies with stocks that have fallen in price?; what range for the P/E ratio is acceptable? The good screeners will allow you to search on just about any metric or criterion you wish. When you finish inputting your answers, you get a list of stocks that meet your requirements. By focusing on the measurable factors affecting a stock's price, stock screening centers around quantitative analysis. In other words, screening focuses on tangible variables such as market capitalization, revenue, volatility and profit margins, as well as performance ratios such as the price/earnings ratio or debt/equity ratio. For obvious reasons, you cannot use a screener to search for a company that makes, say, "the best products". Example Screen on Hoovers To demonstrate, we are going to use the stock screener at Hoovers. (Note that a subscription is required to use their service.) Say we are looking for a bank that trades on the NYSE, has a P/E ratio under 25, has revenue growth of 25% and profit margins of at least 15%. Before the age of computers, searching for companies to meet these criteria would have been a massive undertaking. With a screener, it's easy. After we entered the criteria into the screener, it gave us the companies that made it through the filters of our search. Note that these figures were correct when this article was written, but have most likely changed by the time you read it. Type Of Screen Look in Banking Industry Trading on the NYSE P/E Ratio under 25 1 year revenue growth of at least 25% Profit margins of at least 15%
Companies Remaining 704 97 84 18 3
Remember, the three companies that made all our criteria are not necessarily the best buys. The companies that the screener gives us are only as valuable as the searching criteria we enter.
Predefined Screens The big problem with screens is knowing what criteria to search for. Screeners are extremely
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flexible, but if you don't know what you're looking for or why, they can't do much for you. To help investors, some sites have predefined stock screens, which have their variables already entered. The following sites offer some of the better predefined screens: Quicken - This is a great site for screening in general or for screening stocks according to popular investment models. For example, their one-click scorecard allows you to screen stocks using the tried and tested strategies of Warren Buffett, Motley Fool and the National Association of Individual Investors. This site also includes many popular screens like small cap, large cap, high yield and momentum. Multex Investor - The screener at multexInvestor.com has over 80 variables and many predefined screens for value investing and safe blue chip stock investing. To use their free Power Screener all you need to do is register or log in. CNBC/MSN - This is perhaps one of the most in-depth screeners out there. It offers over five basic preset stock searches and 10 deluxe ones. The only catch is that you have to download their free "money package" to get access. These are just a few examples of what's out there. The fact that there are hundreds of variables makes the possibilities for different combinations nearly endless. Things to Watch Out for When Using Stock Screeners Although they are useful tools, stock screeners have some limitations. Here are some things you should keep in mind: Most stock screeners include only quantitative factors. There are still many qualitative factors to keep in mind: no screener provides information about things like pending lawsuits, labor problems or customer satisfaction levels. Also, if you are looking for technical indicators (chart patterns), you will most likely have to purchase a professional trading platform. (To see our archive of technical analysis articles, click here.) Screeners use databases that update on different schedules. Always check how fresh the data is - if a screener's data isn't timely, your search could be meaningless. Watch for industry-specific blind spots. For example, if you are searching for low P/E valuations, don't expect very many tech companies to show up. Conclusion Just remember that stock screeners are not the "magic pill" for selecting stocks. Nothing will ever replace good research. However, they are a great tool you can use to start your stock search, save time and narrow your options down to a small group of companies.
By Investopedia Staff, (Investopedia.com) Contact Investopedia
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