What is a stock screener?

Stock screener, explained

A basic screener works like a set of filters on a spreadsheet: market cap above a threshold, price-to-earnings below a level, price above its 50-day moving average, and so on. The result is a list to research further, not a recommendation.

AI stock screeners add filters based on model outputs, such as an AI score or a predicted trend, and some let you describe the screen in plain English instead of choosing filters by hand. Real-time scanners apply similar filters continuously during the trading day.

Free screener tiers usually limit data freshness (delayed quotes), the number of filters or the number of results shown. If you trade intraday, real-time data matters; for long-term research, delayed data is usually enough.

Example

A screen for US stocks with a market cap over $10 billion, a dividend yield above 3% and positive earnings growth might return a shortlist of 40 names to research further.

Tools that use this

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  Finviz

  Stock screener and market maps; the paid Elite tier adds real-time data, advanced charts, alerts, backtesting and export.

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  Tickeron

  AI chart-pattern detection, trend prediction, an AI screener, buy/sell signals and AI trading robots.

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  Trade Ideas

  Real-time scanner with "Holly", an AI that suggests intraday US stock trades.

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  TrendSpider

  Charting and technical-analysis platform that automates trendline and pattern detection, market scanning, backtesting and trading bots.

Related terms

• BacktestingBacktesting is testing a trading or investing rule on historical market data to see how it would have performed had it been followed in the past.
• AI stock scoreAn AI stock score is a single number or grade that a model assigns to a stock to summarise how favourably it rates that stock's outlook over a stated time horizon.
• Quant ratingA quant rating is a stock grade produced by a rules-based quantitative model that scores measurable factors such as valuation, growth, profitability, momentum and earnings revisions, without case-by-case human judgement.
• Chart pattern recognitionChart pattern recognition is the automated detection of recurring shapes in price charts, such as head and shoulders, triangles, flags or double bottoms, that technical analysts read as possible continuation or reversal setups.

Where this matters

Stock screener comes up most when choosing AI stock screeners. See Best AI stock screeners for the tools we compare, with dated prices.