Stock picking is the se💧lection of equities based on a certain set of criteria with the hope of achieving a positive return. In today's globa⛦l economy, analyzing vast amounts of information to arrive at an investment decision is very difficult. 

However, there are steps you can take to create a screening process to help sift through the large universe of ideas, and arrive at a manageable number of stocks that merit further investigation. Here, we'll take you through those four steps.

1. Find an Investing Theme

Some investors start their search with an industry, or theme, that has compelling drivers for g🀅rowth, but is currently out of favor. As an example, prospects for growing household formation led some investors to favor building stocks after the real estate crash in the early 1990s.

Others look for industries that are strong but still have room to grow, based on their positive long-term fundamentals. With the aging 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:baby boomer population, healthcare has been such a theme in the past 🔯decade or so. Choosing a theme can be a first step toward creating a smaller universe of stocks.

2. Analyze Poten🍃tial Investments with Statistics

Once a theme is established, whittling down the potential universe of stocks is necessary. Many investors have a particular company size they are comfortable with. 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:Market capitalization of the firm, calculated by multiplying the number of shares outstanding by the current stock price, is a common measure of company size. Generally, firms are categorized as micro-, small-, mid- and large-capitalization, depending on the outstanding value of their stock.

Most investors are familiar with the large-cap companies that are household names, such as Apple (AAPL), Amazon.com (AMZN) and ExxonMobil (XOM). However, some them🌃es focus on mo𝓰re obscure segments of the market, where only smaller companies participate, such as ethanol or modular rental companies.

After narrowing the potential list of companies by market capitalization, investors may review company characteristics, including growth prospects. If a company or industry is in the early stages of the business, or 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:product life cycle, investors generally expect very high growth in sales, earnings or other relevant numbers. More mature companies are expected to display slower growth, but at a steadily rising rate. Growth also plays a role in dividend payments. Younger or high-growth companies usually reinvest free cash flows back into the company, while more mature companies may choose to use cash flow to pay above-average dividends.

Other components of a screen focus on a company's financial position, through financial ratios, such as 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:liquidity ratios, 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:debt ratios and 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:profitability ratios. Liquidity ratios generally look at a company's cash, and short-term asset position relative to its short-term liabilities, and its ability to meet its short-term obligations, particularly working capital. Debt ratios generally look at a company's✱ abili🌠ty to service its debt obligations, and the size of a company's debts relative to its equity or assets. Finally, profitability ratios provide information about the return on assets employed, dollars invested or equity held.

Another screen includes stock valuation parameters that help investors determine whether a stock price is attractive relative to the company's earnings, assets, book value and other characteristics. Common valuation multiples include 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:price-to-earnings (P/E), 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:price-to-sales (P/S), 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:price-to-book (P/B) and enterprise val༺ue to earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortizatio𝐆n (EV/EBITDA).

3. Construct a Stock Screen

There are several professional software packages for screening, and many brokerage firms and financial media websites also offer much of this information. To construct a screen, according to the above criteria, investors first need to determine investment goals — particularly 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:time horizon, tax implications and 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:risk tolerance. Once goals are determined, investors can ch🍎oose the criteria parameters used in the🐈 screen.

Example Screen No. 1

A 22-year-old investor just landed his first job out of college, and wants to put some graduation gift money into some stocks. He has a long t🦄ime horizon, wishes to minimize taxeဣs and has a high risk tolerance. He feels comfortable with an early-stage company that offers high growth potential over the long term, but also higher risk than a more mature company.

His sc൩♌reening criteria focus should be the following:

• Early-stage industries
• High revenue growth
• Smaller market capitalization (between $250 million and $2 billion)
• Ratios: early stage companies generally have unattractive ratios as they seek capital and spend more than they have to launch the business
• Valuation: generally only P/S is a possible measure as earnings are typically negative

Example Screen No. 2

A recently retired woman with no dependents, other than a spouse, and no 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:long-term debt generally has a lower risk tolerance, and needs to ensure her sꦛavings will last through the remainder of her life. This investor feels mor💃e comfortable with mature companies with lower growth potential.

H🧸er screening criteria s🌺hould focus on the following:

• Mature industries
• Low- or no-growth companies
• Larger market capitalization
• Ratios: strong liquidity and low debt ratios, high return ratios
• Valuation: generally any ratio fits, but using P/E, P/B or EV/EBITDA are common; this investor should seek low multiples and high dividend yields

4. Narrow the Output and Perform Deep Analysis

Even after the use of screens, many companies may still fit your criteria. Narrowing the list requires some further scrutiny about the particular companies, such as one's comfort level with the industry, or personal or social concerns.

When the field is narrowed sufficiently, it is time to perform a deep analysis of the remaining companies using all publicly available information, including 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:Securities and Exchange Commission filings and company or investor websites.

The Bottom Line

While an abundance of information and options can make investing overwhelming, understanding your investment goals and constructing a screen based on those goals, will help you select stocks that meet your needs. However, it is important to remember that these screening steps, while narrowing down the list of potential investment candidates, are no replacement for an in-depth 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:fundamental analysis.