Throughout the past five years, GuruFocus has added new features to the All-in-One Guru Screener, one of the most powerful value screeners on the web. We are pleased to announce the next addition to the Screener: screening for companies using historical data.
Brief introduction to the Screener
Our All-in-One Screener allows you to screen for companies using over 150 financial metrics, including financial strength, business predictability and growth. You can also create custom filters and backtest your screens against the Standard & Poor’s 500 index. Figure 1 shows a sample Backtesting screenshot.
Figure 1
Screening using history data
You will notice we have added the option to use history data between the “Customized” tab and the “Reset” button as Figure 2 illustrates.
Figure 2
Click on the check box between “Use history data” and the corresponding drop-down menu to activate the “historical data screening” feature. The Screener will then list the companies that met your screening criteria for the month specified. You can change the backtesting month by selecting it from the drop-down menu provided.
How is screening using history data useful?
We have received customer requests about screening for companies with increasing year-over-year revenue growth. You can now screen for such companies using this feature. For example, you can screen for companies that had a Piotroski F-score of at least 7 in the past three years.
A previous article discusses six companies that maintained a five-star predictability rank year over year since June 2012. Such companies, which include Rollins Inc. (ROL, Financial) and Tyler Technologies Inc. (TYL, Financial), make good Warren Buffett / Charlie Munger candidates once they trade at fair prices. The article illustrates the use of the new historical data screening feature.
Closing comments
Just like the backtesting feature, the historical data screening feature is only available to GuruFocus premium and premium plus members. Premium members can screen up to January 2014 while Premium Plus members can screen up to January 2006. If you are not a member, we invite you to a free seven-day trial.
Disclosure: I do not have positions in the stocks mentioned in this article.
