Stock Screening Checklist

A stock screen is not a verdict. It is a first-pass filter that helps you decide which companies deserve deeper research and which ones are just distracting your attention.

Start with the job of the screen

Before you touch filters, write the purpose. Are you looking for long-term compounder candidates, value ideas, dividend research, turnaround situations, high-momentum swing trades, or earnings-watch names? A single screen cannot do every job. The inputs should match the question you are asking.

Filter for tradability and data quality first

Start with basics: exchange, market cap, average dollar volume, price range, reporting history, and whether the company has current filings. Thinly traded names can make charts and ratios look cleaner than the real execution environment. If a stock is hard to enter, exit, or research, mark that before the story gets interesting.

Separate business quality from valuation

A cheap stock is not automatically a good business. A great business is not automatically an attractive setup at any price. Keep two columns: quality and price. Quality might include revenue durability, gross margin trend, operating margin, return on invested capital, cash generation, leverage, dilution, and customer concentration. Price might include valuation multiples, free-cash-flow yield, expected growth, and comparison to history or peers.

Use a simple scoring pass

A useful screen can be as simple as five scores from 0 to 2:

• ▸Liquidity and data quality: 0, 1, or 2.
• ▸Business quality: 0, 1, or 2.
• ▸Balance-sheet risk: 0, 1, or 2.
• ▸Valuation reasonableness: 0, 1, or 2.
• ▸Catalyst or review timing: 0, 1, or 2.

A 10 out of 10 is not a decision to act. It is a reason to research. A 3 out of 10 is probably not worth a full thesis unless you have a very specific reason.

Watch for screen traps

Screens are good at measurable numbers and bad at context. They may miss accounting changes, one-time gains, customer losses, cyclicality, dilution, debt maturities, product concentration, management incentives, and regulatory risk. Always follow the screen with primary-source review: filings, transcripts, balance sheet, cash flow, and the actual business model.

Build the next-step workflow

For every stock that passes, assign a next action: read the latest filing, listen to the earnings call, compare valuation, check dilution, review insider ownership, or write a one-page thesis. If a name does not earn a next action, remove it from the active list so the watchlist does not become a junk drawer.

How Bucko fits

Bucko can help turn a stock screen into a review workflow: saved notes, checklist scores, thesis drafts, filing screenshots, watchlist tags, review dates, and post-research comments. Use Bucko as an educational research and journaling workspace, not as a shortcut around your own decision process.