By Mashum Mollah
In stocks, scanners and screeners are some of the most effective ways to filter the companies you want to invest in. Know that there are thousands of them listed on the US Stock Exchange, and it won’t be feasible for an investor to track everything on their own. The best thing about these scanners is that you’re only limited to those that meet the parameters you want to see.
However, you may find many of them in the industry, and you might be having difficulties choosing which ones are best for you. If this is the case, visit the best stock scanners in the market to know more about their descriptions and see how they will be able to benefit you. This way, you’ll have a tool that will help you find the best stocks that deserve your attention and make you wiser when you’re investing your hard-earned money.
The screening process should always meet financial criteria that various companies set, and it generally has three components:
- Sets of variables
- Database of companies
- Screening engines that satisfy the variables specified by the user and should generate an accurate list
Overall, many investors find them easy to use. You may want to answer the following questions to get a more accurate result:
- Do you prefer small-cap or large-cap stocks?
- Are you currently looking for stock prices that are at their all-time high value, or are you buying the ones that have fallen in the price?
- Do you have a range of price-to-earnings ratios that are considered acceptable?
- Are you looking to invest in a particular industry?
The best screeners will allow most of the users to use any criteria or metric that you want to see. When you’ve finished answering the questions, you’ll see the best stocks in the market that may potentially meet the criteria that you’ve set.
When you’re primarily focused on the measurable factors that generally affect the stock price, the screeners will help you make a quantitative analysis. The screening process is often more focused on the more tangible assets like volatility, revenue, market capitalization, and profit margins. Read more about market capitalization on this site.
Other factors are debt-to-equity ratio, P/E, and different performance ratings. For some reason, you’re not generally allowed to use this to search for corporations that make the best products in the market.
Screeners to Consider
There are free ones in the market, and Yahoo! Finance and other companies often offer them. However, if you’re serious about investing in stocks, you may want to consider the advanced and premium features available on different platforms.
The basics will give you a set of variables that are already predetermined, and this is where you set your criteria. A notable example is that of Finviz basics that filter the market cap of the stocks and will give you an option to find the companies that exceed or fall below a specific market capitalization.
Although it’s always a good idea to use the free scanners out there, you may want to make the most out of it by getting the one with the latest and best technology. Others offer a subscription service to make this a hassle-free experience for you. You can always cancel anytime.
Customizable Screeners
You might be working with apparel corporations that are trading at the NYSE or New York Stock Exchange. Other factors that you’re looking for are those with an EPS growth of over 10% and a P/E ratio of under 25 for the last decade. They should also have a debt/equity ratio of around 0.1. More about this ratio in this link: indeed.
Fill up these pieces of information in the screener area, and it will show you a list of companies that have made it through the filters. You may want to check this from time to time as the information may constantly change as the new financials are being reported and the stock prices fluctuate.
These scanners will be valuable if you’re looking for a company that meets all the criteria you’ve entered. This is not an analysis, and there’s no guarantee about the numbers, so it’s best to dig deeper if you’re planning to invest in this apparel company. Know what to screen for to get the most out of these scanners because if you’re unsure of what you’re looking for, they won’t do much for you.
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