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2 Graham Stocks for 2017
3 Stingy Stocks for 2016
5 Graham Stocks for 2016
3 Stingy Stocks for 2015
3 Graham Stocks for 2015
3 Stingy Stocks for 2014
4 Graham Stocks for 2014
8 Stingy Stocks for 2013
6 Graham Stocks for 2013
9 Stingy Stocks for 2012
8 Graham Stocks for 2012
Simple Way 2011
5 Stingy Stocks for 2011
7 Graham Stocks for 2011
Simple Way 2010
5 Stingy Stocks for 2010
8 Graham Stocks for 2010
Simple Way 2009
Timing Temptation
19 Stingy Stocks for 2009
4 Graham Stocks for 2009
Simple Way 2008
Active at Passive Prices
Unbundling ETFs 2008
5 Stingy Stocks for 2008
5 Graham Stocks for 2008
Is your index too active?
Graham's Simple Way
Canadian Graham Stocks
5 Stingy Stocks for 2007
8 Graham Stocks for 2007
Top SPPs
The Simple Way
A hole in your IPO?
Monkey Business
8 Stingy Stocks for 2006
Graham Stock Gainers
Blue-Chip Blues
Are Dividends Safe?
SPPs for 2005
Graham's Simplest Way
Selling Graham Stocks
RRSP Money Market Funds
Stingy Stocks for 2005
High Performance Graham
Intelligent Indexing
Unbundling Canadian ETFs
A history of yield
A Dynamic Duo
Canadian Graham Stock
Dividends at Risk
Thrifty Value Stocks
Stocks in Short Supply
The New Dividend
Hunting Goodwill
SPPs for 2003
RRSP: don't panic
Desirable Dividends
Stingy Selections 2003
10 Graham Picks
Growth Eh?
Timing Disaster
Dangerous Diversification
The Coffee Can Portfolio
Down with the dogs
Stingy Selections
Frugal Funds
Graham Revisited
Just Spend It
Ticker Temptation
Stock Mortality
Focus on Fees
SPPs for the Long Term
Seeking Solid Stocks
Relative Strength
The VR Approach
The Irrational Investor
Value Investing
Eye on PI
MoneySense Articles
Cdn Top 200 2016
US Top 500 2016
Retirement 100: 2015
Cdn Top 200 2015
US Top 500 2015
Retirement 100: 2014
Cdn Top 200 2014
US Top 500 2014
Retirement 100: 2013
Cdn Top 200 2013
US Top 500 2013
Retirement 100: 2012
Buffett Buys
FB IPO
Stocks that pay
Value in the S&P500
Cdn Top 200 2012
US Top 500 2012
Retirement 100: 2011
Where to invest $100k
Where to invest $10k
Summer Simple Way
A crystal ball for stocks?
Cheap & safe
Risky business
Cdn Top 200 2011
US Top 500 2011
Retirement 100
Dividend investing
Value investing
Momentum investing
Low P/E P/B
Dividends
Dividend growers
Cdn Top 200 2010
US Top 500 2010
Graham's prescription
Income 100: 2009
The case for optimism
Cdn Top 200 2009
U.S. Top 500 2009
Wicked investments
Simply spectacular
Income 2008
Small stocks, big profits
Cdn Top 200 2008
US Top 500 2008
Value that sizzles
So simple it works
Income 100
No assembly required
Investing by the book
Cdn Top 200 2007
US Top 500 2007
Invest like the masters
A simple way to get rich
Top Trusts 2006
Stocks for cannibals
Car bites dogs
Cdn Top 200 2006
US Top 1000 2006
So easy, so profitable
Top Trusts 2005
Dogs of the Dow
Top 200 2005
Money for nothing
Yield of dreams
Return of the master
Globe & Mail Articles
Indexing advice
Media-shy stocks
Curse of size
Market uncertainty
Be even lazier
Scary beats safe
Small, illiquid, value
Use the numbers
What value is good value?
Sculpt for value
Value vs CAPE
Graham Rules
CAPE vs PeakE
Top value ratio
Low Beta
Value and dividends
Walter Schloss
Try unloved AIG
Why I'm a value investor
New world of ETFs
Low P/Es possible
10 yielders
Be happier
Long-Short
Dividend Downside
Shiller's P/E
Copycat investing
Cashing in on class
Index roulette
Theory collides
Diving too deep
3 retirement villains
Scourge of inflation
Economic omens
Analyst Expectations
Value stock scarcity
It's all in the index
How to pick good funds
Low Beta Wins
Hunt for dividend stocks
Think garage sale
Advisor's Edge Articles
Passive Rebundling
Doing the math
Norm Speaks
Flip Books
In early December I found myself with a bit of extra cash to invest. So, I quickly thought of the many features that I wanted in a stock and set off to the Internet to find them. My first task was to find a good, no fee, stock screening utility. After all, I like it when computers do the bulk of the work. It's even better when they do it for free.
After hopping around web pages, I visited Microsoft's www.msn.com and took a second look at their stock screener.
http://moneycentral.msn.com/articles/common/finderpro.asp
Many moons ago I visited this site, but was turned off. You see, to use the msn.com screener you must first download a small program. This time, I took the leap and downloaded the utility. A few moments later I was quite impressed and began my search.
I started by looking for stocks that met Graham's defensive investor criteria as outlined in The Intelligent Investor (See Figure 1). However, the msn.com stock screener only has 5 years worth of data. Undaunted, I approximated and out came nine stocks: AIR, HVT, LZB, RLC, RS, TG, THO, WNC and WSO (See Figures 2 & 3).
| Figure 1: Benjamin Graham's Criteria for the Defensive Investor |
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| Source: The Intelligent Investor (pages 184-185). |
| Figure 2: Screening criteria used to approximate Graham's rules |
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Being of a suspicious nature, I immediately wondered if this list was too good to be true. After all, I'm painfully aware that it can take some time before an announced dividend cut makes it into the average database. The same goes for earnings declines, revenue shortfalls and all manner of other calamities.
The first thing I checked for were precipitous price declines since they are a good sign that extra digging is required. As it happens, none of the nine stocks showed sudden price plummets but many had slowly declined. For instance, THO had dropped from a year high near $30 down to $20. A recent news release explained the problem; third quarter earnings were down 12.5%. Similarly, AIR had fallen from $28.50 to $12. Why? Earnings had declined by 70% from the previous year.
The moral of the story is that a good stock screener is just a start. But it's a very handy start.
I've now happily played with the msn.com screener for many hours and have been impressed with the robustness and depth of its data. My only major disappointment is the lack of information on Canadian companies. If you've come across a good, free, Canadian stock screener please let me know. I'm still looking for a few more solid stocks.
| Figure 3: Results of the Stock Screen | |||||||||
| Symbol | Company Name | P/E | P/B | Book | Current Ratio | 5-Year EPS Growth | 5-Yr DPS Growth | 5-Yr P/E Low | Revenue ($M) |
| AIR | AAR CORP. | 11.9 | 0.95 | 12.63 | 3.00 | 19.97% | 1.27% | 7.6 | 920 |
| HVT | Haverty Furniture | 7.5 | 1.20 | 8.29 | 3.10 | 20.58% | 5.24% | 7.7 | 674 |
| LZB | La-Z-Boy Inc. | 10.0 | 1.42 | 11.23 | 3.10 | 18.90% | 6.21% | 8.1 | 2,077 |
| RLC | Rollins Truck | 5.7 | 1.18 | 6.80 | 2.30 | 19.67% | 15.82% | 3.6 | 720 |
| RS | Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co. | 11.3 | 1.50 | 17.30 | 3.40 | 18.54% | 26.12% | 5.2 | 1,689 |
| TG | Tredegar Corp. | 5.7 | 1.06 | 14.69 | 2.00 | 27.08% | 28.05% | 5.9 | 901 |
| THO | Thor Industries | 6.9 | 1.22 | 16.29 | 2.60 | 26.21% | 1.50% | 6.4 | 877 |
| WNC | Wabash National Corp. | 5.5 | 0.44 | 17.26 | 2.80 | 15.31% | 8.74% | 6.8 | 1,415 |
| WSO | Watsco, Inc. | 10.3 | 0.94 | 11.86 | 3.30 | 18.52% | 6.31% | 9.8 | 1,352 |
| Source: msn.com before the close on December 12 2000. | |||||||||
Additional Resources:
- 7 Graham Stocks for 2011 (Canadian MoneySaver, Nov/Dec 2010)
- 8 Graham Stocks for 2010 (Canadian MoneySaver, Nov/Dec 2009)
- 4 Graham Stocks for 2009 (Canadian MoneySaver, Nov/Dec 2008)
- 5 Graham Stocks for 2008 (Canadian MoneySaver, Nov/Dec 2007)
- 8 Graham Stocks for 2007 (Canadian MoneySaver, Nov/Dec 2006)
- Graham Stock Gainers (Canadian MoneySaver, Nov/Dec 2005)
- H.P. Graham Stocks (Canadian MoneySaver, Nov/Dec 2004)
- Graham Stocks in Short Supply (Canadian MoneySaver, Nov/Dec 2003)
- 10 Graham Picks for 2003 (Canadian MoneySaver, Dec 2002)
- Graham's Guidelines Revisited (Canadian MoneySaver, Dec 2001)
- Seeking Solid Stocks (Canadian MoneySaver, Feb 2001)
- The Intelligent Investor, Revised Edition with Jason Zweig
First published in the Feb 2001 edition of the Canadian MoneySaver magazine.
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