| This is tenth in my "How To Make Money In The | | | | getting about 40-50 decent companies for further |
| Stock Market" series of articles. Search for "Learning | | | | research. |
| the Stock Market" to find the first article which lists | | | | How effective are stock market screeners? |
| the entire set. | | | | This depends largely upon which criteria they allow |
| Stock Market Screener Why would I want to use a | | | | you to screen by. A decent screener should at least |
| stock screener? | | | | cover those items listed above. The best stock |
| The big answer here is to save precious time. You | | | | screener may allow you to narrow your focus even |
| could spend a lifetime (or indeed several lifetimes!) | | | | closer with meaningful parameters to really flag up |
| sifting thorough individual stocks looking for those | | | | only the best. |
| that meet specific criteria. Not only is this time that | | | | What do I do with the results? |
| could be better spent but it also restricts the number | | | | Screen regularly and collect your results into a general |
| of companies you get to evaluate whilst data is | | | | watch list. Browse through this list weekly cleaning |
| current. | | | | out stocks that have poor new earnings releases or |
| New information is being released all the time and so | | | | a negative change in character. |
| you need a stock market screener that is going to | | | | Put the 10 or so best looking stocks into a 2nd list. |
| wade through all that data and present you with a | | | | Analyse the stocks in this list in greater detail during |
| shortened list of stocks worthy of further | | | | your week. 2 per day will see it covered in a week. |
| consideration so you don't waste time digging deeper | | | | Those that make it through your scrutiny and still |
| unnecessarily. | | | | look attractive can be potential buys if their chart |
| What criteria do I want to screen for? | | | | pattern acts accordingly and the market is behaving |
| You are screening to find stock that meet as many | | | | appropriately. |
| of your chosen criteria as possible. | | | | The others go into another list of analysed stocks |
| Include in your screening process as many of the | | | | not up to standard. This ensures you don't forget |
| following as your stock market screener will allow. | | | | which you did. Just take care to browse this list once |
| Growth of Quarterly Earnings Per Share, year on | | | | in a while to check any that may have turned around |
| year, current and previous 3 or 4 quarters. Min 18% | | | | to show promise again in a few months time. Any |
| Quarterly Sales growth, again current (min 25%) and | | | | that truly crater can just be ditched. |
| previous 3 or 4 quarters (min 18%) | | | | Are the free stock market screener any good? |
| Annual Earnings growth for the past 5 years Min | | | | As with most free tools they are good for starting |
| 20% | | | | out with. Get familiar with how they work and what |
| You'd also like to know if any of these figures are | | | | to do with the results. No point in paying for |
| accelerating | | | | something you're not ready to use. Keep learning and |
| Return on equity 17% | | | | then, once the free ones are holding you back, take |
| At least 10 institutional owners | | | | a free trial of a decent paid one to see what it can |
| Exclude poor sectors to narrow your results. This | | | | do for you before decided whether to subscribe. |
| gives you a sound fundamental start. If you get less | | | | Hope you found it informative reading about choosing |
| than 25 returning then reduce your criteria until you're | | | | a stock market screener. |