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Episode Three of "As the World Turns", which usually appears in this time period, has been rescheduled for Saturday in order to bring you this production of "Guiding Light".
The InvestorPlaceBlogs now have the Portfolio Page live. Therefore, I am finally posting the overall criteria for the main screening for stocks. I used the free Reuters Powerscreener Lite. My idea criteria are listed below. However, applying all of them, stringently, resulted in almost no stocks to research further. Therefore I tried many variations. I needed a good pool because some had recent bad news, were unremittingly flat in spite of good figures, or were in industries to stay away from. At present I am avoiding housing, commercial REITs, utilities, banks, brokerages and insurance companies. With foreign stocks maybe I do not need to worry so much about these industries or interest-sensitive industries in general.
Ideal Screening Criteria:
Sales % Change TTM larger than 20.
Sales 3 Year Growth % larger than 20.
EPS % Change TTM larger than 20.
EPS 3 Year Growth% larger than 20.
If Market Cap smaller than 350, then Current Assets must be greater than Current Liabilities.
If Market cap larger than 350, then Total Assets must be greater than Total Liabilities.
EPS 3 Year Growth % larger than 20.
Price to Book Ratio smaller than 5, preferably smaller than 3.
Price to Sales Ratio smaller than 7, preferably smaller than 5.
Sales TTM larger than 0.
EPS for Year and for Most Recent Quarter larger than 1.
Current Stock Price closer to yearly high than to yearly low.
Preferably, price up over last 2 years, last 1 year, and, especially, recent weeks.
Preferably, paying a dividend.
Preferably, Shares Outstanding smaller than 300.
Price to Earnings TTM smaller than10. Or larger than 10. Tried screening both ways. No Price to Earnings smaller than 10 stocks had the very highest, top notch figures.
After looking at prospects generated by the screen I ended up buying the following companies:
Anixter International Inc. (AXE) 2.90B Mkt. Cap. - communications and specialty wire and cable products, fasteners, and small parts in the United States and internationally.
Ensco International Inc.(ESV) 8.52B Mkt. Cap. - offshore contract drilling company in the United States and internationally.
Chart Industries Inc. (GTLS) 675.29M Mkt. Cap. - engineered equipment used in the production, storage, and end-use of hydrocarbon and industrial gases.
GlobalSantaFe Corporation (GSF) 15.21B Mkt. Cap. - offshore oil and gas drilling contractor in the US Gulf of Mexico, N. Sea, W. Africa, Mediterranean Sea, SE Asia, S. America, Middle East, and eastern Canada.
HEICO Corp. (HEI) 1.13B Mkt. Cap. - design, manufacture, and sale of aerospace, defense, and electronics related products and services in the US and internationally.
Input/Output Inc. (IO) 1.08B Mkt. Cap. - provides seismic products & services primarily to the oil and natural gas industry worldwide
Jones Lang Lasalle Inc. (JLL) 3.34B Mkt. Cap. - real estate & investment management services in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia Pacific.
Lincoln Electric Holdings Inc. (LECO) 3.02B Mkt. Cap. - welding and cutting products worldwide
Madeco S.A. (MAD) 749.71M Mkt. Cap. - non-ferrous products based on copper, aluminum, and related alloys plus flexible packaging products
Mesa Laboratories Inc. (MLAB) 80.66M Mkt. Cap. - electronic instruments, supplies, and disposable products for health care and industrial applications
Noble Corp. (NE) 13.43B Mkt. Cap. - services for the oil and gas industry in the United States and internationally
Roper Industries Inc. (ROP) 5.39B Mkt. Cap. - energy systems and controls, scientific and industrial imaging products & software, industrial technology products, and radio frequency products & services
Once bought, this group of stocks promptly started falling. So I started looking at supplemental strategies (see earlier Soap Opera segments).
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