According to Reuters’ website, it will no longer offer the free version — or any, for that matter — of its excellent PowerScreener tool as of October 4, 2007. Having launched a bevy of for-pay versions of the stock screener this doesn’t come as a total surprise — the company was clearly trying to build a business here — but the company says it didn’t have many buyers. It is seeing, in its words, “limited customer demand”.
Color me chagrined.
Now, however, I need recommendations. Where is the next best screener out there that carries oodles of data and allows custom filters, etc.? And remember that I’m unbelievably cheap.
As a related aside, does any screener offer easy access to data on the number of analysts following each company? Yes, I could scrape it from known places, but that’s not altogether sporting.
Related posts:
The Globe and Mail has a free (quite) limited screen tool and a more advanced tool in its Globe Investor Gold section ($150 per year). You can find them at http://www.globeinvestor.com/v5/content/filters
We also run a daily Number Cruncher stock screen in the newspaper. We do some of the screens with our Globe database, others with Thomson or StarMine, and others with guests (James O’Shaughnessy this week) I’m in the midst of trying to get them all online as well.
Of course, if you want to pay up, CPMS.com is the porsche of quant/screen suppliers (Canada and US stocks.
Hope that helps,
Scott Adams
Globe and Mail
Investment Editor
Scott Adams
Reuters stopped accepting new pay subscriptions for their PowerScreener sometime last Spring – just before the Thomson buyout was finalized, if I remember right. I don’t know of any retail product that allows custom formulas to the extent that Reuters PowerScreener did. I’m actually putting together a screening and backtesting platform for my own use.
In terms of other screening tools I’ve tried, Morningstar’s premium tool includes the most comprehensive analyst forward estimate data and Yahoo’s free screener/database seems to have the most accurate current fundamental data. Zack’s Research offers a backtesting/screening product but I don’t know what it costs.
You probably want Nasdaq’s Stock Screener:
http://www.nasdaq.com/reference/StockScreener.stm
Covers all US exchanges. Plenty of input options.
Try http://www.portfolio123.com
It uses Reuters data and can backtest ideas 6+ years.
Hi Paul,
You may want to consider AAII’s Stock Investor Pro software. It’s not an on-line program like PowerScreener, but I think you will find it offers even greater flexibility. The program uses Reuters data and allows all of the same features–creating and saving screens, creating and saving custom data fields, exporting screening results, and more. Stock Investor Pro also has a full-featured reporting system, including company summary reports and user-defined reports. The program is $247 a year for non-AAII member and includes one-year of data updates via monthly CD and weekly downloadable Web updates.
Paul,
I am in the same situation as you. Loved the Reuters screeners, both the predefined ones like Contrarian Opportunities and the customizable ones. Found quite a few profitable picks through them.
Did you find a good alternative? If yes, pls advise.
HingeFire recently introduced a stock screener that supports screening based on both fundamental and technical criteria. The software is free to registered users to download at http://www.hingefire.com The initial release is primarily focused on demonstrating the concept and getting feedback from users about what they want to see added to the tool.