Key insights
- A financial analyst developed a free stock screener using ROIC, Piotroski F-score, and Beneish M-score. Key findings include that quality (ROIC) stratifies harder than valuation (P/E), insider cluster buys in small-caps are more informative, and high ROIC with reasonable P/E identifies durable compounders. This suggests a bullish signal for high-quality, reasonably valued small-cap stocks.
Hey everyone,
i've been working on this for a few months. it started as a personal frustration. most free screeners (Finviz, Stockanalysis, Yahoo) let you filter by P/E, market cap, dividend yield. none of them let you screen by ROIC, Piotroski F-score, or Beneish M-score, which are arguably more useful for value work than half the metrics they do expose.
so i built one. it's called Stockvektor. fully free, no signup wall.
the scoring stack:
- ROIC as the primary quality metric. ran a correlation study across the russell 1000 and ROE-leverage came out r=0.92 with ROIC. so any screener that uses ROE without isolating leverage is half-blind. i made ROIC the headline column.
- Piotroski F-score (0 to 9) computed from the financials directly, not pulled from a vendor.
- Beneish M-score for earnings manipulation flags. simplified version right now because retained earnings and receivables extraction is still being built out, so i flag that on each ticker page.
- Altman Z-score for distress, same caveat.
- Form 4 insider flow. SEC filings parsed nightly. i show cluster buys (multiple insiders inside a 30-day window) because single-insider buys are noisy.
a few things that surprised me running this against the full US market:
- the gap between top-decile ROIC names and the rest of the market is bigger than the gap between top-decile P/E. quality stratifies harder than valuation.
- insider cluster buys at sub-$2B caps have a way better forward signal than at large caps. probably because at small caps insider information is genuinely asymmetric.
- the "low P/E + low ROIC" quadrant is mostly value traps. the "high ROIC + reasonable P/E" quadrant is where the durable compounders live, which sounds obvious but the screener makes it visible.
disclaimer: this is a research and screening tool, not financial advice. the scoring is mechanical. it won't catch a fraud the financials don't reveal, and it won't price geopolitical or product risk. use it as a starting point for the watchlist, not the ending point.
would love feedback on the methodology. specifically:
- anyone using a different ROIC variant (NOPAT/IC vs EBIT/IC vs cash-ROIC)? what's worked for you?
- which metrics would you add? i'm considering adding Magic Formula rank and a Greenblatt-style EBIT/EV.
- is the simplified Beneish worth showing or should i hold it back until full extraction is live?
link: stockvektor.com