This month’s First Cut presents stocks that passed the greatest number of strategies tracked by AAII. This process was accomplished with a new report that is an enhancement scheduled for an upcoming version of Stock Investor Pro. The report examines the results of every screen selected and identifies which screen any stock passed. As of December 9, 2011, 935 stocks passed at least one of the 63 screens tracked by AAII. However, only 23 stocks passed four or more screens, and they are the stocks that made the First Cut this month. The MAGNET Complex and T. Rowe Price approaches did not have any companies that passed at the time of screening.
The stocks are first ranked by the number of screens passed and then by their price-earnings ratio. The price-earnings ratio (price divided by trailing earnings per share) is a basic valuation gauge. The earnings growth rate measures bottom-line performance. Market capitalization (number of shares outstanding times the price) measures firm size. Stock price performance is highlighted with relative price strength ranks over the last 13 weeks and 52 weeks.
Is a stock that passes more than one complete screening approach more attractive than another that just passes a single approach? Possibly, if the screening approaches are sound and varied. While you cannot automatically consider a group of consensus stocks to be a diversified portfolio, they may present a good First Cut for constructing your personal portfolio. Optimally, the group of screening approaches a stock passes is diverse enough to capture unique, yet desirable qualities. Further information on each of the screening strategies can be found at the Stock Screens area of AAII.com.
—John Bajkowski, President, AAII
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