Screening Strategies

Different investment goals require different screening approaches. Let's explore strategies that work.

What Is Screening?

Screening is systematically filtering stocks based on criteria to find candidates that match your strategy.

Without screening: Look at 5,000 stocks randomly With screening: Focus on 50 stocks that meet your criteria

Strategy 1: Value Hunting

Goal: Find undervalued stocks with solid fundamentals

Criteria:

• Valuation Score > 70 (cheap)
• Quality Score > 50 (decent business)
• Health Score > 50 (stable)

Process:

1. Filter for high Valuation Score
2. Check Quality isn't terrible
3. Verify financial health
4. Research why it's cheap

Best for: Patient investors seeking bargains

Strategy 2: Quality Focus

Goal: Find the best businesses regardless of price

Criteria:

• Quality Score > 75 (excellent business)
• Health Score > 60 (stable)
• Growth Score > 50 (not declining)

Process:

1. Filter for highest Quality Scores
2. Verify financial stability
3. Check for reasonable growth
4. Accept fair (not cheap) valuations

Best for: Long-term investors willing to pay for quality

Strategy 3: Growth Seeking

Goal: Find fast-growing companies

Criteria:

• Growth Score > 70 (high growth)
• Quality Score > 50 (sustainable)
• Health Score > 50 (can fund growth)

Process:

1. Filter for highest Growth Scores
2. Verify growth is quality (not just revenue)
3. Check financial health
4. Accept higher valuations for growth

Best for: Aggressive investors seeking capital appreciation

Strategy 4: Balanced Approach

Goal: Find stocks strong across all dimensions

Criteria:

• Final Score > 65
• No pillar below 50
• All pillars above 55 preferred

Process:

1. Filter for high Final Score
2. Verify no weak pillars
3. Look for consistency
4. Prioritize well-rounded stocks

Best for: Most investors seeking quality at reasonable prices

Strategy 5: Sector Specialist

Goal: Find the best stocks in sectors you understand

Criteria:

• Specific sector filter
• Top 10% within sector
• Final Score > 60

Process:

1. Filter to your sector(s)
2. Review sector leaderboard
3. Compare top candidates
4. Leverage your expertise

Best for: Investors with industry expertise

Building Your Screen

Step 1: Define Your Goal

• What are you trying to find?
• What's your investment style?
• What's your time horizon?

Step 2: Set Criteria

• Which scores matter most?
• What are your minimums?
• Any sector preferences?

Step 3: Run the Screen

• Apply filters
• Review results
• Note the count (too many? too few?)

Step 4: Refine

• Adjust criteria if needed
• Tighten to reduce candidates
• Loosen if too few results

Step 5: Research Results

• Click through to top candidates
• Full analysis on each
• Build watchlist from winners

Screen Calibration

Too Many Results (100+)

• Tighten criteria
• Raise minimum scores
• Add sector filter

Too Few Results (Under 10)

• Loosen criteria
• Lower minimum scores
• Expand sectors

Sweet Spot (20-50)

• Manageable for research
• Enough for comparison
• Quality candidates

Next up: Tracking changes—monitoring your investments.