StockScreen123
Free Stock Screener

Although the full featured stock screener offered by StockScreen123 requires a modest monthly fee, a free version is still available.

If your budget demands free and you want to backtest your ideas, this may make you forget the other free stock screeners. After taking a test drive of the free version, I am impressed.

Register to get started. Registration gets you the free stock screener with lots of data, access to forums, access to sector and industry weighted 52 week performance, and, incredible as it may seem, some back-testing.

You will not be able to use the proprietary screens and ranking systems, but you will have access to the descriptions, methodology used, and the current top picks for each screen and ranking system.

With the demise of the MSN Deluxe screener, this seems to be the best free alternative IF you are interested in custom formulas and need lots of data.

“Must Have” features

As always, the data requirements of your investing strategies are the primary consideration. Like the Portfolio123 screener, both the free and the fee-based versions of StockScreen123 have over 500 fundamental, technical, and industry parameters available. The data is not focused in any one area but spread across many categories.

A free form criteria editor is available to set up screen criteria. A point and click wizard is also available for some fields.

If you use more than simple data points, you will be pleased with the free form editor. You can enter a complex formula using company data, industry data, and the rich set of operators offered. In many ways, it is much like entering a formula or using a function in MS Excel.

Saving and running a screen

At this point, you notice additional features that differentiate this stock screener from the competition. You can run the screen against a variety of stock universes such as the S&P 500 or the Russell 2000 if you are not interested in the entire database. Use the expanded "settings" to identify the stock universe to draw from

Use the expanded "settings" to identify the max number of results. Finally, since you cannot use the proprietary ranking systems, you must select Quickrank as your ranking method and enter the data point or formula used to rank the results. Indicate if higher is better or if lower is better.

One of the limitations of free is the ability to save only one custom screen. However, while you are learning the system this is not much of a handicap. After entering a screen, save the screen by name and add some text describing the rationale of your screen.

Once saved, use the Run button or go to the Results tab to see the results of the screen.

NOTE: The free version does give you access to their proprietary screens and proprietary ranking systems. The limitation is that you cannot run them directly or replicate them exactly since the proprietary screens use the ranking systems.

Stock screener “Nice to Have” features

Many of the nice-to-have features are available. Both industry relative and historical data points can be included in the logic. If an investing strategy calls for an industry relative comparison rather than an absolute value, the screener can handle it.

Like most screeners, the results of the screen are provided as a list where each row represents a company that passed the screen. You can download the results to a spreadsheet along with the data identified in any of the pre-defined reports. You can also sort the results by any viewable field.

Visualization of the results is exceptional. For example, an icon that displays a Yahoo Finance price/volume chart (5 day or 1 year) of the equity. For stocks you can go directly to a StockScreen123 Panel or Snapshot view of the company. An ETF will allow a Snapshot view.

As mentioned earlier, you can limit the results to a specified number. Saving the results to a portfolio is not offered.

StockScreen123 “Advanced” features and Extras

Custom formulas and advanced logic are included in the free stock screener. Custom formulas can be saved by name for easy re-use.

The Backtest capability (even though limited to one year in the free version) is sufficient to make StockScreen123 and the upscale Portfolio123 the premier free stock screeners available.

You can back-test with a click of the mouse and choose a holding period as short as a week and as long as a year. Even though you are limited to Quickrank, there are simply no other free stock screeners with this feature. And you would be limited to your own ranking techniques in those systems as well.

Another extra is the Industries and Sectors ranking. Every sector, industry and stock is ranked by their weighted 52 week price performance. The performance is color-coded (green is best, red is worst) and can be sorted by any of the periods involved in the weighting.

Want to know the hottest sector by weighted price performance, look for the green. This is available in the free version.

Implementing investing strategies

Your personal investing strategies identify the data and logic needs of the best stock screener for you.

Although some of the features amd techniques described will only apply to the fee-based version, you may find it interesting to examine the Dogs of the Dow investment strategy as implemented on the fee-based version of StockScreen123.

Conclusions

If you intend to backtest and can only afford free, this (nd the free version of Portfolio123) are your only choices. Take a test drive – it is free.

The extensive capabilities suggest a longer learning curve, but the functionality suggests time well spent.

My suggestion is that, unless you absolutely cannot afford the modest monthly fee, you register for the free 30 day trial ( 45 days if you register from here ). The performance gains possible using StockScreen123 ranking systems are readily seen when you take advantage of backtesting from March 31, 2001. And you have 45 days to see if would work for you.

To examine the screener in more detail, you can register for the free screener and then try the 45 day free trial. To register you may need to identify the referrer - if so, please select StockScreening101 from the drop down list.

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