What stock should I buy today

Screening Filters

1. monthly_average_dollar_volume ≥ 1,000,000

   • Purpose: Ensure the stocks are liquid and easy to trade.
   • Rationale:
     • A minimum of $1M in average monthly dollar volume filters out very illiquid, thinly traded names where it can be hard (or costly) to get in and out.
     • When someone asks “What stock should I buy today?”, a reasonable assumption is they want something practical to buy and sell without large bid–ask spreads or slippage. This liquidity threshold helps.

2. moving_average_relationship: PriceAboveMA200

   • Purpose: Focus on stocks in a longer-term uptrend rather than downtrends.
   • Rationale:
     • The 200-day moving average is a widely used indicator of the long-term trend.
     • Requiring the current price to be above the 200-day MA means you’re only looking at stocks that are, broadly speaking, trending upward rather than languishing in extended declines.
     • For a general “what should I buy today” query (without a contrarian or deep-value mandate), trend-following bias is often used to tilt toward stronger names.

3. is_index_component: GSPC, NDX (S&P 500 or Nasdaq 100)

   • Purpose: Restrict the universe to large, established, widely followed companies.
   • Rationale:
     • S&P 500 (GSPC) and Nasdaq 100 (NDX) members are usually larger, more liquid, and more transparent businesses.
     • These indices exclude many of the riskiest microcaps and have basic profitability and size criteria (especially the S&P 500).
     • When someone asks broadly what to buy, starting from major index components is a way to avoid the most speculative corners of the market and focus on higher-quality, institutionally followed names.

4. quarter_revenue_yoy_growth ≥ 5%

   • Purpose: Ensure the business is growing its sales at least modestly.
   • Rationale:
     • A minimum 5% year-over-year quarterly revenue growth rule removes companies with flat or shrinking top lines.
     • For a non-specialist asking “what to buy today,” growth is a simple, intuitive sign of company health and business momentum.
     • This filter tilts the results toward companies whose underlying businesses are expanding, not contracting.

5. pe_ttm between 8 and 28

   • Purpose: Keep valuations within a “reasonable” range—avoid both extremely expensive and possibly distressed names.
   • Rationale:
     • P/E < 8 can sometimes indicate deep-value or distressed situations, turnarounds, or cyclical troughs—high-risk and less suitable for a generic buy suggestion.
     • P/E > 28 can indicate very high expectations and more speculative growth, which may be riskier or overvalued.
     • A band of 8–28 focuses on companies that are not obviously “bubble-like” nor priced as if they’re in serious trouble, aligning with a more balanced, core-investing approach.

6. one_month_predict_return ≥ 0

   • Purpose: Prefer stocks where the model’s short-term signal is not negative.
   • Rationale:
     • This uses a predictive model (likely based on historical patterns or factors) to estimate the next month’s return.
     • By requiring the predicted 1‑month return to be at least zero, the screener excludes names the model expects to decline in the near term.
     • For “what should I buy today,” it’s sensible to at least avoid stocks where the short-term model outlook is negative.

Why Results Match the Question “What Stock Should I Buy Today?”

• The filters:

  • Focus on liquid, easily tradable stocks (dollar volume filter).
  • Restrict to established, widely followed companies (S&P 500 / Nasdaq 100).
  • Require uptrending prices (above the 200-day moving average).
  • Add a layer of fundamental health via positive revenue growth and reasonable P/E ratios.
  • Incorporate a short-term model signal to avoid names with a negative expected 1‑month return.

• Taken together, these filters don’t guarantee a “best” stock, but they narrow the universe down to:

  • Larger, higher-quality names,
  • With growing businesses,
  • Not obviously over- or under-valued in an extreme way,
  • In a positive price trend,
  • And without a negative near-term model forecast.

This is a sensible, balanced way to generate a candidate list for “stocks to consider buying today,” especially for a general, non-specialized request like yours.