How to Use the Stock Screener Effectively

Getting Started

The Strategyland Stock Screener is designed to help you identify top-ranked equities based on your preferred investment criteria. Unlike traditional screeners that filter stocks using absolute thresholds (e.g., "P/E below 15"), our approach ranks every stock by composite factor score - ensuring you always see the best relative opportunities regardless of absolute metric levels.

When you first load the screener, you will see the default factor weightings applied. These defaults represent a balanced multi-factor allocation: Liquidity 15%, Valuation 20%, Profitability 15%, Solvency 25%, Asset Efficiency 10%, Market Trading 10%, and Technical 5%. The resulting ranking shows stocks ordered from highest to lowest composite score.

Step 1: Define Your Investment Philosophy

Before adjusting weights, consider what type of investor you are and what outcomes matter most to you:

Defensive income investor: You prioritise capital preservation and dividend reliability. Increase Solvency (30-35%) and Liquidity (20-25%) weights while reducing Technical and Market Trading to near zero. This configuration identifies financially robust companies with stable cash flows.

Growth-at-reasonable-price (GARP): You want profitable, efficiently managed companies that are not excessively valued. Balance Profitability (25%), Valuation (20%), and Asset Efficiency (20%) with moderate Solvency (15%). This finds companies growing profitably without excessive market expectations priced in.

Momentum and trend follower: You believe recent winners continue winning. Increase Technical (25%) and Market Trading (20%) while maintaining a Profitability floor (20%) to avoid chasing low-quality rallies. This surfaces stocks with strong price trends backed by fundamental improvement.

Deep value contrarian: You look for unloved stocks with strong balance sheets that the market may be mispricing. Maximise Valuation (35%) and Solvency (25%) with moderate Profitability (15%). Accept that these stocks may have weak Technical scores - that is the opportunity.

Step 2: Adjust Factor Weights

The Factor Weightings panel allows you to set each factor from 0% to 100%, with the constraint that all seven weights must sum to exactly 100%. As you adjust one factor up, you will need to reduce others to maintain the total.

Setting a factor to 0% does not remove those stocks from the universe - it simply means that factor has no influence on the ranking. A stock with an excellent profitability score will not benefit from it if profitability weight is zero, but it will still appear in results if it scores well on the weighted factors.

The circular gauges provide visual feedback on your allocation. Coloured badges at the top of the Factor Weightings card show each factor's current weight at a glance, making it easy to verify your configuration before analysing results.

Step 3: Use Economic Trend Presets

If you are unsure how to weight factors for the current environment, the Economic Trends presets provide expert-configured allocations for four common macroeconomic regimes:

High Inflation: Emphasises Liquidity (35%) and Solvency (25%) - targeting cash-rich, low-debt companies that can weather rising input costs without borrowing at elevated rates. Reduces Valuation weight since inflation can distort traditional value metrics.

Falling Inflation: Shifts toward Profitability (25%) and Asset Efficiency (25%) - as inflation retreats, efficiently managed companies with strong margins see earnings recover fastest. This regime typically favours growth-oriented businesses.

Rising Interest Rates: Maximises Solvency (30%) alongside Liquidity (30%) - when borrowing costs rise, heavily indebted companies face margin compression and refinancing risk. This preset avoids leveraged names while favouring self-funding businesses.

Stagnation/Low Growth: Provides balanced defensive positioning with Liquidity (25%), Solvency (20%), and moderate weights across Profitability, Asset Efficiency, Valuation, and Market Trading. Designed for environments where economic growth is subdued and selectivity matters most.

Selecting a preset immediately adjusts the Factor Weightings sliders and re-ranks the results. You can further fine-tune after applying a preset - it serves as a starting point rather than a fixed configuration.

Step 4: Interpret the Results

The Results table displays stocks ordered by composite score. The colour-coded ranking badges provide quick visual guidance:

Green (Rank 1-10): Top-tier stocks with the highest composite scores under your current weighting. These are the strongest opportunities according to your defined criteria and deserve priority research attention.

Yellow (Rank 11-30): Strong performers that narrowly miss the top tier. Often these stocks have one factor pulling their composite down while excelling in others - the individual stock page reveals which dimensions are strong or weak.

Red (Rank 31+): Lower-ranked stocks under your current weighting. This does not mean they are bad companies - simply that they score less well on the specific factors you have prioritised. Changing weights may promote them significantly.

Click any company name to view its detailed stock page, which shows the individual factor scores, financial metrics, peer comparisons, and price charts that underpin its ranking.

Step 5: Filter and Search

Below the Factor Weightings section, the Filters card allows you to narrow results by sector (e.g., show only Technology stocks) or search for specific companies by name or ticker symbol. Filtering does not change the underlying ranking - it simply hides non-matching results.

This is useful when you have sector conviction (e.g., "I want the best-scored energy stocks") or when you want to check where a specific holding ranks under your current weighting.

Step 6: Save and Compare

The Save Preset button stores your current weight configuration for future use. This enables you to maintain multiple strategies (defensive, aggressive, income-focused) and quickly switch between them to compare how the same stock universe ranks under different criteria.

The Print/PDF button generates a clean printable report of your current screener state - including factor weights, economic trend selection, and top results - suitable for sharing with an advisor or keeping as a dated record of your research process.

Best Practices

Do not over-fit to recent performance. Resist the temptation to set weights that would have identified last year's winners. Factor premiums are cyclical - what worked last year may underperform next year.

Use the screener as a starting point. The composite ranking identifies which stocks deserve deeper research - it does not replace fundamental analysis, management assessment, or understanding of company-specific catalysts.

Monitor ranking changes over time. A stock moving significantly up or down in ranking (without weight changes) signals improving or deteriorating fundamentals that merit investigation.

Consider factor diversification. A portfolio exclusively of top-10 ranked stocks may have concentrated factor exposure. If all ten score highly because of solvency, the portfolio is effectively a single-factor bet. Check individual stock pages to ensure factor diversity across your selections.