Stock Investing Blog - 2008 -

Dec 17, 2008, Martin Zweig stock screening "a la AAII"

Many readers are interested in the Martin Zweig stock screen from AAII, probably due to its great performances

Last year, I helped a reader building a similar Zweig screen with the MSN Deluxe screener.This article details this screen.

I also provide a Zweig screen using Morningstar Premium Screener.

Oct 29, 2008, Best 6 Months MACD Buy signal

We're approaching the best 6 months for the Stock Market (November-April) .

At the market close on October 28, both the S&P500 and the Dow triggered a Buy Signal (MACD turned positive).

So it is time to commit some money to the market.

From the Sell signal at the close of April 15 till October 28, the performances are as follows:
- S&P500: -29.7 percent (YTD -35.9 percent)
- DJIA: -26.7 percent (YTD -31.6 percent)
- recommended portfolio: -41.4 percent (YTD -44.7 percent)


The recommended portfolio has been particularly affected due to exposure to lower market caps.

If you haven't sold the recommended portfolio on April 16, then keep it till the next rebalancing at year end.

If you sold, here are the new Stocks that pass the 2008 recommended screens (For liquidity reason, only Tier 1 stocks at Foliofn are kept from the screens):

Cornerstone Growth Stocks

Magic Formula Investing Stocks

Sep 23, 2008, Advanced formulas with MSN Stock Screener

I regularly receive questions on the MSN Stock Screener. One of them is how to build complex formulas such as the ones on the Improved Magic Formula Investing page.

So here is a step by step guide to build advanced formulas with the MSN Deluxe Stock Screener.

Jun 12, 2008, Investing Universe - Market Leaders - Updated

SmartMoney Select is the best screener to get a list of Stock Market Leaders.

I've updated the screen after receiving some comments (for instance, the criterion on Sales was not restrictive enough).

The new screen does not use any absolute criterion and also filters out Utilities.

Apr 20, 2008, New Dogs of the Dow

This article details an improved version of the Dogs of the Dow that ranks stocks through the Shareholder yield (Dividend Yield + Share Buyback Yield ).

Now, Stock Screeners seldom include the Share Buyback as screening criterion.

So I include a link to a site that ranks the 30 Dow stocks through the Shareholder Yield for free.

Apr 16, 2008, S&P500 MACD Sell Signal

The Stock Market typically exhibits lower performances in the 6 months from May to October.

The usual Sell signal is around April, 30th while the enhanced version checks for a MACD Sell Signal around mid-April.

We are in mid-April and the S&P500's MACD is in Sell Mode.

If you follow this Market Timing strategy, it's time to exit the market and come back in 6 months time.

Year to Date, the Dow is down -6.8% and the S&P500 down -9.1%.

The 2008 stock picks (Check the Permalink) are doing better with a loss of -4.9% (Cornerstone Growth is down -1% while Magic Formula Investing is down -7.6%)

Apr 8, 2008, Free Stock Screeners Review - Update

After the discontinuation of Reuters Power Screener, it was high time to review the free stock screeners page.

I've updated the comparison and it now includes:

• MSN Deluxe


• Yahoo Finance


• CNBC Screener


• Morningstar Free Screener


• Zacks Custom screener

Feb 29, 2008, The Bunny Stocks Porifolio

The Bunny Portfolio is a mechanical growth and value investing strategy created by John Dorfman (Thunderstorm Capital).

Use the Yahoo Stock Screener to pick stocks highlighted by this simple yet effective strategy.

Feb 29, 2008, Robot Stocks

Robot Stocks is a typical mechanical value investing strategy created by John Dorfman (Thunderstorm Capital).

Despite severe losses in 2007 - due to too heavy weight in Homebuilders - the strategy is very effective if you maintain sector diversification.

Jan 15, 2008, 2007 Portfolio Returns

The performances of the two 2007 recommended portfolios show great disparity in each stock's return.

It is important that you look at the performance of your portfolio globally rather than focusing on each stock individually.