I need a good buy that's under $3

Screening Filters

1. Price: min $0.50, max $3

   • Purpose: Find low-priced stocks that fit your “under $3” requirement while avoiding ultra‑illiquid penny stocks.
   • Rationale:
     • The max $3 directly matches your request for a stock under $3.
     • The min $0.50 removes sub‑penny and micro‑price names (e.g., $0.01 stocks), which are often highly speculative, thinly traded, and subject to extreme manipulation. This keeps the list more investable while still focusing on “cheap” stocks.

2. Volume: min 500,000 shares per day

   • Purpose: Ensure the stocks are liquid enough to get in and out easily.
   • Rationale: A minimum of 500k average daily volume significantly reduces the chance you’ll be stuck in a name with no buyers or sellers. For someone just looking for a “good stock under $3,” liquidity is critical so that:
     • Your orders are more likely to be filled quickly.
     • Bid–ask spreads are tighter, reducing hidden trading costs.

3. 1‑Week Price Change %: min -10%, max +50%

   • Purpose: Avoid both total breakdowns and parabolic blow‑offs in the very short term.
   • Rationale:
     • Min -10%: Allows for reasonable pullbacks (potential dip‑buys) but filters out stocks that are collapsing more than ~10% in a week, which can signal serious problems.
     • Max +50%: Includes strong recent movers but excludes names that have just spiked more than 50% in a week, where the risk of a sharp reversal is much higher.
       This makes it more likely you’re seeing stocks in a tradable zone rather than extreme situations.

4. Exchange Listing: XNYS, XNAS, XASE (NYSE, NASDAQ, AMEX)

   • Purpose: Restrict results to major U.S. exchanges.
   • Rationale: These exchanges have stricter listing standards, better disclosure, and generally better liquidity than OTC/pink‑sheet markets. For “good stocks under $3,” this filter tilts you toward more established, transparent companies rather than the riskiest penny stocks.

5. Gross Margin: min 10%

   • Purpose: Require that companies have a decent basic profitability at the product/service level.
   • Rationale: A gross margin ≥10% means the business actually keeps a meaningful portion of revenue after direct costs. This helps exclude deeply uncompetitive or structurally weak businesses, especially important when you’re already limiting yourself to low share prices.

6. Net Margin: min 0%

   • Purpose: Include only companies that are at least breaking even or profitable overall.
   • Rationale: Net margin ≥0% filters out companies losing money. If you want a “good” low‑priced stock rather than a turnaround gamble, insisting on non‑negative net income is a strong quality filter.

7. Return on Equity (ROE): min 5%

   • Purpose: Ensure the company is generating reasonable returns on shareholders’ capital.
   • Rationale: ROE ≥5% suggests the company is using its equity effectively instead of just sitting on capital or destroying value. Among cheap stocks, this distinguishes real businesses from value traps.

8. Annual Revenue YoY Growth: min 5%

   • Purpose: Focus on companies that are actually growing their top line.
   • Rationale: ≥5% year‑over‑year revenue growth says the business is expanding, not stagnating or shrinking. For low‑priced stocks, positive, measurable growth raises the odds that the valuation is “cheap but improving” instead of “cheap for a reason.”

9. Annual EPS YoY Growth: min 5%

   • Purpose: Ensure earnings per share are also growing, not just sales.
   • Rationale: EPS growth ≥5% YoY shows that profitability per share is improving. Combined with revenue growth, this signals a business that’s scaling and becoming more efficient—exactly what you want when hunting for “good” names in the sub‑$3 universe.

10. P/E (TTM): min 0.01, max 40

    • Purpose: Filter out both non‑meaningful and excessively high valuations.
    • Rationale:
      • Min 0.01: Excludes negative or zero P/E, which usually corresponds to unprofitable companies (already filtered by net margin, but this reinforces it).
      • Max 40: Avoids extremely expensive “story” stocks where the price is very high relative to earnings, even if the share price itself is low. This keeps the focus on names that are at least within a reasonable valuation band.

Why Results Match Your Request

• The price cap at $3 directly implements your “under $3” requirement; the $0.50 floor simply improves quality by avoiding the worst micro‑penny names while still keeping everything in a clearly “cheap stock” range.
• Additional filters on volume, profitability, growth, ROE, and valuation are layered on to interpret “a good stock” as:
  • Liquid enough to trade,
  • Profitable or at least break‑even,
  • Growing in both revenue and earnings,
  • Earning a reasonable return on capital,
  • Not egregiously overvalued.

We don’t rely on any exotic indicators that you specifically requested but can’t be supported—the filters used are standard, supported metrics that effectively narrow the universe to low‑priced stocks with better‑than‑average financial and trading quality, aligning with your goal of finding a “good stock to buy that’s under $3.”