Computerized Investing > Second Quarter 2010
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Finding stock screening software for the Mac

by CI Staff

How to Screen for Stocks Using a Mac

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Welcome to another installment of the CI “Discussion of the Month.” The ultimate success for this segment rests solely on the shoulders of you, our readers. If you haven’t visited the AAII Discussion Boards, they are an excellent means of interacting with fellow CI readers and AAII members.

Last month’s discussion centered on the frustration felt by many Mac users at the lack of robust software for investment analysis. Specifically, lschirm4 was looking to perform stock screening on a Mac.

While the Mac has grown in popularity over the last several years, it still only has about 10% market share. As a software maker, it comes down to a business decision: The natural inclination is to serve the largest segment possible, which is why there tends to be a lack of quality Mac software for investors.

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Two themes were apparent from those who provided their thoughts on last month’s question:

  1. There is a lack of good investment software for the Mac OS; and
  2. Running Windows on a Mac, using utilities such as Parallels or Bootcamp, is your best option as a Mac user.

The Q&A section below highlights the comments of several of our readers and the options they suggest to fill the void in investing software for Mac users. To see these comments, read through this month’s discussion.

For those looking to learn more about stock screening services, our next comparison of online stock screening services will appear in the Third Quarter 2010 issue of Computerized Investing.

Also, be sure to check out next month’s question and log on to the Computerized Investing discussion board to offer your solution or to post your own question to your fellow readers.

Wayne A. Thorp, CFA

Editor, Computerized Investing

 

Last month’s question

How to screen for stocks using a Mac

Q: I don’t seem to find much software for Macs that allows for screening stocks, backtesting the screen, and customization of the screens. I don’t trust Windows-based software. Any ideas?

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- Submitted by lschirm4

A: Featured reader suggestions to last month’s question:

-- Submitted by PersistEndure

-- Submitted by Cpat

-- Submitted by Whackyone

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Thanks to all who contributed!

Check out next month’s discussion:

Excel Plug-ins

Q: Does anyone have any thoughts on the differences, advantages, or disadvantages of the XLQ Excel plug-in from QMatix (reviewed in the Fourth Quarter 2009 issue of Computerized Investing) versus AnalyzerXL? Are there any other Excel plug-ins you would recommend?

- Submitted by RailFan

Have an answer for RailFan? Click here to submit your thoughts!

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Discussion

The "Mac" vs "PC" software issue is not an issue of you're using web-based software as opposed to downloaded/installed software.

So, Mac users have 2 choices:
(1) Run Windows on their Mac (Parallels, Bootcamp, VirtualPC)
(2) Use web-based investment software in their Mac browser of choice (Safari, Firefox, Chrome, etc)

For example, this site is a covered call screener and works in a browser (on all platforms):
http://www.borntosell.com

Mike
(happy Mac user)

posted over 2 years ago by Mike from California

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