Best Cheap Stock ScreenersThe reason is simple: free stock screeners have some limitations. The screeners reviewed below allow you to build strategies that would be difficult to build, if ever possible, with any free screener. These include "Martin Zweig" with AAII Stock Investor Pro or Morningstar Premium Screener, the "Market Leaders" with SmartMoneySelect, "Warren Buffett" with NAIC Stock Prospector, "CANSLIM" with Pitbull Investor Stock Tables. So, here is a review of the best cheap stock screeners. They're all well worth their reasonable cost. Note: all featured screeners provide more variables and capabilities than stated below. I only highlight the main ones and put them in a format that hopefully makes comparison easy. SmartMoney Select Go Back to Top Investing Universe: Market Cap, Index Membership (DJIA, S&P500, Russell2000, NASDAQ). Valuation: P/E, PEG, P/S, P/BV, P/CF, Dividend Yield. Investment Return: ROE, ROA, ROI. Relative Strength: Yes.
Others: EPS Surprises, % held by Institutions/Insiders, Insider transactions, Technical Analysis. Ranking of results: Yes. Price: 5$/month or 58$/year. Includes access to SmartMoney Select Tools. Pros:
Overall: the best value among cheap stock screeners. Many possibilities for Value, Growth and Momentum investors. SmartMoney Select is also the cheapest solution to screen for Market Leaders. Morningstar Premium Stock Screener Go Back to Top Investing Universe: Market Cap, Morningstar Rating, Morningstar Grades (Price / Fair Value, Economic Moat, Growth, Profitability, Risk, Financial Health). Valuation: P/E, PEG, P/S, P/BV, Dividend Yield. For each, except PEG and Dividend Yield, Morningstar provides current and each of the last 5 years value as well as the 5 years average. Investment Return: ROE, ROA. For both, each of the last 10 years. Relative Strength: Yes (1 mth, 3 mth, 1 yr, 3 yrs). Growth: EPS Growth, Revenue Growth. For both, Quarterly growth versus same quarter a year ago (Q1/Q5, Q2/Q6, Q3/Q7, Q4/Q8), Yearly growth for each of the last 5 years. Others: Financial Statement (5 years restated, 10 years original), Many Analyst Estimates (Revenue and EPS forecasts), Earnings Surprises, % held by Mutual Funds. Ranking of results: Yes (including Scoring with weights assigned to different parameters). Price: 16.95$/month or 159$/year. Includes access to Morningstar Premium tools. Pros:
Overall: a great stock screener for growth investors thanks to its rich set of growth variables and financial statement. Can build complex strategies: for instance, you can build the successful Martin Zweig stock screen from AAII. NAIC Stock Prospector Go Back to Top Investing Universe: Market Cap, S&P Quality Rating. Valuation: P/E, PEG, PE/ROE, P/S, P/BV, Dividend Yield. Investment Return: ROE. Relative Strength: No. Growth: EPS Growth (QoQ, 1 yr, 3 yrs, 5 yrs, 10 yrs), EPS Rank, Revenue Growth (QoQ, 1 yr, 3 yrs, 5 yrs, 10 yrs). Others: % held by Institutions/Insiders. Ranking of results: Yes. Price: 99$ Software + 79$/year for Better Investing Membership. Pros:
Cons:
Overall: a good stock screener for Growth Investing a la Warren Buffett thanks to its R-squared. Due to lack of Relative Strength, Momentum Investors can give it a miss despite the availability of the EPS Rank. AAII Stock Investor Pro (SIPRO) Go Back to Top Investing Universe: Market Capitalization, Index Membership (Dow Jones, S&P400 Mid Cap, S&P500 Large Cap, S&P600 Small Cap). Valuation: P/E, P/BV, P/CF (both Price/Cash Flow and Price/Free Cash Flow)), P/S, Dividend Yield. Stock Investor Pro provides each of last 7 years, 3 yrs average, 5 yrs average, 7 yrs average for the Valuation ratios. Investment Return: ROE (each of last 7 yrs, 5 yrs and 7 yrs average), ROA (each of last 7 yrs), ROIC (each of last 7 yrs, 5 yrs average). Relative Strength: Yes (1 mth, 3 mths, 6 mths, 1 yr). Growth: EPS Growth (QoQ for "Q1/Q5, Q2/Q6, Q3/Q7, Q4/Q8", YoY for "Y1/Y2, Y2/Y3, Y3/Y4", 1 yr, 3 yrs, 5 yrs, 7 yrs), Revenue Growth (QoQ for "Q1/Q5, Q2/Q6, Q3/Q7, Q4/Q8", 1 yr, 3 yrs, 5 yrs, 7 yrs). Others: Income Statement, Balance Sheet, Cash Flow statement. For all 3, each of last 7 years and last 8 quarters. Earnings Surprises, % held by Institutions/Insiders and many more... Ranking of results: Yes. Price: 198$/year + 29$/year for AAII membership. Pros:
Cons:
Overall: Stock Investor Pro is the most complete stock screener. You can build many strategies not possible with other screeners thanks to its rich set of variables. Unsurprisingly it is the priciest tool on this page but still reasonable at 227$/year. Pitbull Investor Stock Tables Go Back to Top Investing Universe: None. Valuation: None. Investment Return: None. Relative Strength: Yes. Growth: EPS Rank. Others: Some Technical Analysis for Momentum Investors (Accumulation/Distribution a la Investor's Business Daily...) Ranking of results: Yes. Price: 14.95$/month or 99$/year. Pros: Cons:
Overall: several possibilities for Momentum Investors despite its simplicity and seemingly lack of variables. A cheaper alternative to Investor's Business Daily to screen for CANSLIM Stocks. |
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