How to Use Simply Wall Street Stock Screener for Better Investment Decisions [Tutorial]
The Simply Wall Street stock screener filters more than 100,000 global securities by snowflake axis scores, sector, market cap, and financial ratios. The simply wall street stock screener gives you speed: a disciplined five-minute filter session can reduce a universe of thousands to a list of 20-30 candidates worth detailed research. This tutorial covers how to configure the screener effectively for value-focused investing, how to interpret its output, and how to pair it with deeper analysis tools before making any investment decision.
The screener finds candidates. Your job is to determine whether those candidates represent genuine value or just noisy signals from an automated system.
Key Takeaways
- The simply wall street stock screener filters by five snowflake axes (scored 0-6), financial ratios, market cap, sector, and dividend criteria.
- A value-plus-health filter (both axes minimum 3/6) is a reliable starting configuration for fundamental investors.
- The screener's value axis depends on analyst consensus estimates and a proprietary DCF, which means value axis signals require independent verification.
- EV/EBITDA and Piotroski F-Score are not available as screener filters. Both require separate data sources or the ValueMarkers screener to assess.
- Screener outputs are a hypothesis, not a recommendation. Every candidate still needs balance sheet review, earnings quality assessment, and your own intrinsic value model.
- Combining the simply wall street stock screener with an EV/EBITDA historical check and a Piotroski F-Score confirmation produces materially better results than using the screener alone.
What the Simply Wall Street Stock Screener Does
The simply wall street stock screener covers all global securities across the NYSE, NASDAQ, ASX, TSX, London Stock Exchange, and 50+ other exchanges. Filter categories include snowflake axes (each 0-6), fundamental ratios (P/E, P/B, yield, revenue), company characteristics (sector, exchange, market cap), and dividend history. Output is a sortable table by any axis score, market cap, or yield.
Step 1: Choose Your Screen Type Before You Set Filters
Before touching the screener, decide what you are looking for. The simply wall street stock screener produces different candidate pools depending on how you prioritize the five axes.
Three common screen types for value investors:
Deep value screen: Prioritizes value axis (minimum 4/6) plus health axis (minimum 3/6). Looks for stocks passing multiple automated valuation checks with sound balance sheets. Produces the most concentrated, smallest list.
Quality screen: Prioritizes past axis (minimum 4/6) plus health axis (minimum 4/6). Looks for businesses with strong historical earnings growth and balance sheet quality. Value axis can be set lower (minimum 2/6) to allow for quality names trading at slightly elevated multiples.
Income screen: Prioritizes dividend axis (minimum 4/6) plus health axis (minimum 3/6). Looks for stocks with durable dividend histories and sustainable payout ratios. Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) at a 3.1% yield and Coca-Cola (KO) at 3.0% with 60+ years of consecutive increases both score near the maximum on this axis.
Step 2: Configure Your Filters
For a value-focused screen, set these filters:
- Value axis: minimum 3 out of 6
- Health axis: minimum 3 out of 6
- Past axis: minimum 2 out of 6 (removes companies with no earnings track record)
- Market cap: minimum $2 billion (ensures data completeness and adequate liquidity)
- Exchange: select specific markets if you want geographic focus (e.g., NYSE and NASDAQ only for U.S. names)
These five filters are your core configuration. The output will typically return 100-400 candidates for U.S. equities, fewer for more restricted geographic filters.
Additional ratio filters to tighten the screen:
| Filter | Value Screen Setting | Quality Screen Setting |
|---|---|---|
| P/E ratio (trailing, max) | 20x | 30x |
| P/B ratio (max) | 3x | 5x |
| Dividend yield (min) | None (skip) | None (skip) |
| Revenue (min) | $500 million | $1 billion |
Set these as secondary filters after the snowflake axes. They remove edge cases that pass the snowflake screen but have absolute metrics that are difficult to justify.
Step 3: Run the Screen and Read the Output
After setting filters, run the screen and examine the output table. Sort by value axis score descending as your first view.
The top of the list shows stocks that passed the most automated valuation checks. Scan for sector concentration before working down the list: if 40% of results are in one sector, the screen may be picking up sector-wide cheapness rather than individual mispricings.
Open the individual report for your top 10 candidates. Work through directly to the financials tab rather than stopping at the snowflake.
Step 4: Pull EV/EBITDA From the Financials Tab
The simply wall street stock screener does not include EV/EBITDA as a filter option. Pull it manually from each stock's financials tab. EV/EBITDA normalizes across different capital structures and depreciation policies, making it more useful than P/E when comparing businesses with different debt levels.
Compare the current ratio to the stock's five-year historical median. A business trading at 8x EV/EBITDA against a historical median of 14x is potentially mispriced. One trading at 11x against a median of 9x is not cheap despite any passing value axis score. See the ValueMarkers glossary entry on EV/EBITDA for the full methodology.
Step 5: Add a Piotroski F-Score Check
The Piotroski F-Score measures whether a business's fundamentals are improving year-over-year across nine criteria covering profitability, debt, and operating efficiency. Scores of 7-9 signal strengthening fundamentals. Scores below 3 signal deterioration. The simply wall street stock screener does not include the F-Score. Run each candidate through the ValueMarkers screener to check it before proceeding.
Step 6: Build Your Own Intrinsic Value Estimate
For candidates that pass EV/EBITDA and F-Score checks, build your own DCF before sizing any position. The simply wall street stock screener's value axis uses a proprietary discount rate you cannot inspect or adjust. Use the ValueMarkers DCF calculator with fully adjustable inputs. Run at least a base case and a conservative case. If the stock shows a margin of safety in both, the value thesis has real support.
What the Simply Wall Street Stock Screener Misses
Three filters that value investors regularly need are absent from the simply wall street stock screener: ROIC, Piotroski F-Score, and EV/EBITDA. The screener cannot distinguish between Apple (AAPL) at a P/E near 28.3 with ROIC of 45.1% and a sector peer at P/E 20 with ROIC of 9% if the sector median falls between those P/E ratios. Both pass the same value check.
The ValueMarkers screener includes all three as filterable columns across 120 indicators. Running a parallel screen that adds ROIC, F-Score, and EV/EBITDA filters to the simply wall street value axis results improves the quality of the shortlist substantially.
Further reading: SEC Investor.gov · FINRA
Why stock screener for value investors Matters
This section anchors the discussion on stock screener for value investors. The detailed treatment, formula, and worked examples appear in the body of this article above. The points below summarize the most important takeaways for value investors who want to apply stock screener for value investors in real portfolio decisions. ValueMarkers exposes the underlying data on every covered ticker via the screener and stock profile pages, so the concepts in this article translate directly into actionable filters.
Key inputs for stock screener for value investors
See the main discussion of stock screener for value investors in the sections above for the full treatment, including the inputs, the calculation methodology, the typical sector benchmarks, and the most common pitfalls to avoid. The ValueMarkers screener lets value investors filter the full universe of 100,000+ stocks across 73 exchanges using stock screener for value investors alongside the rest of the 120-indicator composite, with sector percentiles and historical trends shown on every stock profile.
Sector benchmarks for stock screener for value investors
See the main discussion of stock screener for value investors in the sections above for the full treatment, including the inputs, the calculation methodology, the typical sector benchmarks, and the most common pitfalls to avoid. The ValueMarkers screener lets value investors filter the full universe of 100,000+ stocks across 73 exchanges using stock screener for value investors alongside the rest of the 120-indicator composite, with sector percentiles and historical trends shown on every stock profile.
Related ValueMarkers Resources
- Pe Ratio — Glossary entry for Pe Ratio
- Enterprise Value to EBITDA (EV/EBITDA) — Enterprise Value to EBITDA is the metric used to how cheaply a stock trades relative to its fundamentals
- Pb Ratio — Glossary entry for Pb Ratio
- Simply Wall Street — related ValueMarkers analysis
- Simply Wall St — related ValueMarkers analysis
- Gross Profit Margin Vs Net Profit Margin — related ValueMarkers analysis
Frequently Asked Questions
what happens if the stock market crashes
A stock market crash does not change the intrinsic value of businesses with strong balance sheets, durable earnings, and defensible competitive positions. It changes their price. Investors who screened for financial health and balance sheet strength before a crash face lower risk of permanent capital loss than those who held highly indebted businesses through a liquidity crunch. The simply wall street health axis, when it correctly identifies strong balance sheets, helps identify businesses likely to survive a downturn without requiring dilutive equity raises or covenant breaches.
what time does the stock market open
U.S. equity markets (NYSE, NASDAQ) open at 9:30 a.m. Eastern Time on weekdays. Pre-market sessions begin as early as 4:00 a.m. Eastern on electronic platforms. The simply wall street stock screener uses end-of-day closing prices for its valuation checks, so screener results reflect the previous day's closing price until the daily update processes.
are stock markets closed today
U.S. equity markets close on designated federal holidays and the occasional extraordinary closure. The nine standard market holidays are: New Year's Day, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Presidents Day, Good Friday, Memorial Day, Juneteenth, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas Day. Markets also close early (1:00 p.m. Eastern) on the day before Independence Day and Christmas in some years. Check the NYSE official holiday calendar for the current year's schedule.
what time does the stock market close
The NYSE and NASDAQ close at 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time. After-hours trading on electronic platforms typically runs until 8:00 p.m. Eastern. The simply wall street stock screener refreshes its data with end-of-day prices after market close, so screens run during trading hours reflect the prior close until the update processes. For real-time price screens, a brokerage-integrated tool or a platform with live data feeds is more appropriate.
when does the stock market open
The NYSE and NASDAQ open at 9:30 a.m. Eastern Time on standard trading days. Pre-market trading begins at 4:00 a.m. Eastern on most electronic brokerage platforms. International exchanges included in the simply wall street stock screener operate on different schedules: London Stock Exchange opens at 8:00 a.m. GMT, the Tokyo Stock Exchange opens at 9:00 a.m. JST, and the Australian Securities Exchange opens at 10:00 a.m. AEST.
why is the stock market down today
Short-term market movements are driven by a combination of macroeconomic data releases, Federal Reserve communications, sector-specific news, geopolitical developments, and mean reversion following periods of elevated valuations. For individual stocks in your simply wall street screen, a daily price decline does not necessarily reflect fundamental deterioration. Check the company's news feed and whether analyst estimates have been revised before attributing a price drop to anything structural about the business.
Run the ValueMarkers comparison tool alongside your simply wall street stock screener results to add ROIC, EV/EBITDA, and Piotroski F-Score as confirmation filters before your next investment decision.
Written by Javier Sanz, Founder of ValueMarkers. Last updated April 2026.
Ready to find your next value investment?
ValueMarkers tracks 120+ fundamental indicators across 100,000+ stocks on 73 global exchanges. Run the methodology above in seconds with our stock screener, or see today's top-ranked names on the leaderboard.
Related tools: DCF Calculator · Methodology · Compare ValueMarkers
Disclaimer: This content is for informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice, a recommendation, or an offer to buy or sell any security. Past performance does not guarantee future results. Consult a licensed financial advisor before making investment decisions.