Stock screens that hide the universe they searched
A stock screen that says it found forty names has not told you the universe it started from. This guide starts with four thousand listed common stocks, applies three filters, and then asks which companies disappeared because the data vendor had no analyst estimate.
Four thousand names, then forty
Start with the listed common stocks a vendor actually carries. In this example that list is four thousand names. Filter to a market capitalization above $2 billion, a price above $5, and a positive trailing earnings figure. The screen returns forty. The review question is not whether forty is a good number. It is which of the four thousand never had a chance to appear because the earnings field was blank.
The missing estimate
Three hundred of the original names had no analyst estimate in the vendor file. They were not "excluded for quality." They were missing a column. A screen that requires the estimate has silently dropped them. Quarry Research's gap table is the product that tries to show this. A screener that only shows the forty has hidden the universe. Write the starting count on the page next to the ending count, and write the reason a name could not qualify.
What we do with the forty
The forty are a list to open, not a portfolio. Each one still needs the filing check in the previous guide. A screen is a way to spend the afternoon. It is not a recommendation, and this page does not become one by sounding precise about $2 billion and $5. Those thresholds were chosen so the example has a before and an after. Your threshold is yours. The missing column is the point.
Write the starting count
Four thousand names, then a cap above $2 billion, a price above $5, and positive trailing earnings, then forty names. Three hundred of the original names had a blank estimate and never entered the race. Put 4,000 and 40 and 300 on the page. A screen that shows only 40 has hidden the universe. Quarry's job is the missing column. The screener's job is to admit the column was required.
The forty are not a portfolio. They are an afternoon. The thresholds were chosen so the example has a before and an after. Yours will differ. The blank column will not.
The second screen, with the column named
First screen: 4,000 listed common stocks, cap above $2 billion, price above $5, positive trailing earnings, forty names left, and 300 names that never entered because the estimate field was blank. Second screen, same universe, same cap and price, but the earnings filter removed. The result was 110 names, not forty. The seventy that appeared only in the second screen are the point of the guide. They were not low quality. They were missing a column the first screen required. Write 4,000, 40, 110, and 300 on the page. A vendor who shows only the forty has hidden the universe.
The forty are not a portfolio. They are an afternoon of filings. Quarry's job is the missing column as a coverage gap. The screener's job is to admit the column was required. Mintcanopy does not publish the forty as ideas to buy. The thresholds were chosen so the example has a before and an after. Yours will differ. The blank column will not.
What you write next to the forty
Write the starting count, 4,000. Write the ending count, 40. Write the count that appears when you lift the earnings filter, 110. Write the 300 that had a blank estimate and never entered. A screen that will not show the starting count has hidden the universe, and Quarry is the product that tries to show the gap as a file. The forty are an afternoon of filings, not a portfolio, and Mintcanopy will not publish them as tickers to buy. Your cap and your price floor will differ. The habit of writing the before and the after will not.
Before, after, and the column
Start at 4,000 names. Require a cap above $2 billion, a price above $5, and positive trailing earnings, and 40 names remain. Lift only the earnings filter and 110 names remain. The 70 that appear, and the 300 that had a blank estimate and never entered, are the guide. They were not excluded for quality. They were missing a column. Mintcanopy does not publish the 40 as a portfolio. Quarry is the product that tries to show the missing column as a file. Your thresholds will differ. Writing the before and the after will not.
Four counts on the page
4,000 names to start. 40 after cap, price, and positive trailing earnings. 110 when the earnings filter is lifted. 300 that never entered because the estimate was blank. Mintcanopy wants those four counts written next to any screen of "our best ideas." The 40 are an afternoon, not a portfolio. Quarry's file is the missing column. Your own cap can change. Hiding the starting universe cannot.
The seventy names in the middle
4,000 down to 40 is the strict screen: cap above $2 billion, price above $5, positive trailing earnings. 4,000 down to 110 is the same screen without the earnings demand. The 70 names that exist only in the second result, plus the 300 that had no estimate and never started, are why a vendor's list of 40 is not a universe. Mintcanopy does not know whether those 70 are good businesses. It knows they were removed by a blank column. Write the four counts beside the list you were handed. Then open filings. The list is not a portfolio, and Quarry is the separate product if the question is coverage rather than a filter.