Screening Filters
PriceAboveMA200 (Moving Average Relationship)
- Purpose: Select stocks whose current price is above their 200-day moving average.
- Rationale: The 200-day moving average is a widely watched long-term trend indicator.
- Stocks trading above this line are generally considered to be in a longer-term uptrend, reflecting positive price momentum and market confidence.
- For “best stocks to buy now,” this helps avoid names in clear downtrends or with broken charts, and focuses on technically healthier stocks.
is_index_component: GSPC (S&P 500) and NDX (Nasdaq 100)
- Purpose: Limit the universe to large, established US companies that are part of major benchmark indices.
- Rationale:
- S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 components are typically larger, more liquid, and more scrutinized by institutional investors.
- These companies usually have stronger financial disclosure, more stable business models, and tighter bid-ask spreads—important when asking for “best US stocks to buy now” rather than speculative microcaps.
- It aligns with a quality and liquidity bias, which is often what investors are implicitly seeking with a “best stocks” request.
pe_ttm between 5 and 35 (Price/Earnings, Trailing 12 Months)
- Purpose: Filter for stocks with a reasonable valuation range.
- Rationale:
- A P/E below 5 can sometimes signal distress, one-off earnings distortions, or very cyclical businesses; above 35 can imply very high expectations and elevated valuation risk.
- By focusing on 5–35, the screener attempts to balance growth and valuation—avoiding both extremely speculative valuations and many potential value traps—consistent with a more conservative “best to buy now” approach.
analyst_consensus: Strong Buy or Moderate Buy
- Purpose: Include only stocks with broadly positive Wall Street analyst sentiment.
- Rationale:
- Analyst consensus ratings aggregate multiple professionals’ views on a company’s prospects.
- By requiring Strong Buy or Moderate Buy, the filter seeks names where the Street generally expects positive fundamentals (earnings growth, competitive position, etc.).
- This ties directly to “best stocks to buy now” by incorporating expert forward-looking expectations, not just historical data.
target_price_upside_potential: MoreAbovePrice
- Purpose: Require that analysts’ average target price is meaningfully above the current stock price.
- Rationale:
- If the consensus target is significantly higher than today’s price, analysts see upside potential from current levels.
- This is a quantitative way to align results with the “buy now” part of the request—focusing on stocks that are not only high quality and in uptrends, but also considered undervalued or underpriced relative to analyst targets.
Why Results Match “Best US Stocks to Buy Now”:
- US-focused, high-quality universe: Limiting to S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 components keeps the list to major US names that most investors can realistically buy and follow.
- Healthy technical trend: The PriceAboveMA200 filter ensures candidates are in established uptrends instead of fighting negative momentum.
- Reasonable valuation: The P/E range removes many extremely overvalued or distressed names, emphasizing balanced risk-reward.
- Positive professional outlook: Strong/Moderate Buy ratings align with the idea of “best to buy now,” leveraging aggregated expert opinions.
- Identifiable upside: Requiring analyst targets above the current price helps focus on stocks that may still have room to run, rather than those already priced for perfection.
Together, these filters narrow the market to liquid, fundamentally supported, technically strong US stocks that analysts believe have further upside—an evidence-based interpretation of “best US stocks to buy now.”
This list is generated based on data from one or more third party data providers. It is provided for informational purposes only by Intellectia.AI, and is not investment advice or a recommendation. Intellectia does not make any warranty or guarantee relating to the accuracy, timeliness or completeness of any third-party information, and the provision of this information does not constitute a recommendation.