StockScreen123
Stock Screener

The beta testing of StockScreen123 stock screener is complete. The fee-based version offers extensive screening and testing capabilities for a modest monthly fee. If you don't like fee-based, a robust free version is still available.

Having used this screener for several months, I am still impressed.

Register to get started. That will get you a 30-day free trial - enough time to get acquainted with the system and decide if it is worth the fee. This gets you access to several Portfolio123 proprietary screens, proprietary ranking systems and, incredible as it may seem, historical data from March 31, 2001 for back-testing.

“Must Have” features

As always, the data requirements of your investing strategies are the primary consideration. Like the Portfolio123 stock screener, StockScreen123 has over 500 fundamental, technical, and industry parameters available. It is hard to imagine not finding what you need but not every strategy will be supported. In addition, the majority of the data is not focused in any one area but spread across many categories.

Screening criteria can be entered with a point and click wizard or with a free form editor. Extra criteria can be specified but "locked out" during testing.

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

Saving and running a screen

After entering a screen – simple or complex – you can save the screen by name. If you do not want to create a custom screen, StockScreen123 offers over 30 pre-defined screens and dozens of screens developed by their user community. Some of the StockScreen123 screens are based on the published work of stock gurus like Warren Buffet, Martin Zweig, and Benjamin Graham. Some are based on general investing concepts.

To run any screen - custom or pre-defined – you first select the screen and then choose the run tab. 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.

If you take time to enter a custom list (e.g., ValueLine stocks) you can limit the selection to the custom universe. Note, however, that custom lists will probably suffer from survivorship bias when you backtest.

The results of your screen

One of the strengths of StockScreen123 stock screener is the ranking systems they make available in the fee-based system. Within any universe of stocks some stocks are better than others from an investment standpoint. And because there are many investment standpoints, many ranking systems are offered. Some of their ranking systems are value oriented; some are growth oriented; some are a combination of both.

The power of the ranking systems is that you can rank the results of your screen by any of their systems or by using the “Quick Rank” option (more on that in the implementation example).

Is there anything else? Oh, yes, you can download the results to a spreadsheet along with any data points of interest for each result.

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. Not only can you look at all the data points independently of the screening criteria, you can 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. Other nice features:

• View/print a customizable report of the company
• View a snapshot of the available Reuters data
• Link to the company website

All these open in a new window. Very impressive.

You can limit the results to a specified number. Saving the results to a portfolio is not included but is available in Portfolio123.

StockScreen123 screener “Advanced” features

Custom formulas and advanced logic are included. You can create custom formulas within the criteria.

StockScreen123 offers no proprietary ratings but does offer several of the Portfolio123 proprietary investing strategies. The strategies are transparent so you can see the criteria and modify them if you wish. As mentioned, screens provided by the user community are also accessable.

The Backtest tab

Have you ever wondered how your new idea would have worked over the past 8 years but never had the resources to find out? No need to wonder any longer.

You can back-test your investing strategies starting with March 31, 2001, with a click of a mouse button. And examine holding periods as short as a day or as long as a year. You can back-test by applying any of the ranking systems. WOW.

Implementing investing strategies

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

The Dogs of the Dow investment strategy discussed elsewhere on this site illustrates how the StockScreen123 stock screener and back-tester can provide the confidence you need in an investment strategy.

Conclusions

If you intend to use a stock screener and get some feel about how your investing strategies have done in the past, this is the standard against which others will be measured. Take the free 30-day test drive – nothing ventured, nothing gained.

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

To examine the screener in more detail, you can register for the free trial. To register you must identify the referrer - please select StockScreening101 from the drop down list. Notice that registration also gives you access to their forums.

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