Can stocks be screened using margin of safety?

Update: We are working on adding the criteria so that you can filter and sort based on margin of safety.


Why the change of heart?


Because enough of you said.


BUT it's still not recommended as a screening source because you WILL get a lot of false positives. This is for Actives Investors only. People who like to dig in.


If you are a busy investor and don't have the time and energy, do NOT use it in the screening process.



Q: Can stocks be screened using margin of safety?


A: No. Margin of safety ultimately depends on valuation and valuation is more art than science. If you change one variable, the entire margin of safety changes.


Therefore it should not be used as a screener.


Valuation is something you should do manually once you've filtered down a list.


You need a story (as in understanding of future possible outcomes) and theory to come up with valuation adjustments. Default values are a good start, but using it to screen is dangerous.


Having said that, we are looking at ways to make it part of the screener but hold no responsibility in the results and performance (good or bad) to your portfolio based on this method.

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