Screeners like Stockopedia

First Time Investing šŸ£
#1

Hola,

New to the market. Just wondering, how do you get on with websites and screeners like Stockopedia or Simply Wall Street?

To my newbie eye, they seem to aggregate the data nicely and boil it down to simple green/red good/bad values, which is handy when Iā€™m learning some of the terms but donā€™t like doing the mathematics!

Probably far too simplistic, and far too good to be true, but do these hold much weight for the newbie? Stockopedia makes a claim that if you invested in their top % of stocks youā€™d beat the market, but Iā€™m wary of claims like that, since even the infamous Motley Fool website says stuff like that.

So anyway, how do you get on with them?
Are there free alternatives that present the data in a similar way?
Are they worth the incredible fees? (Ā£250+ for Stockopedia for example)
Do they help you grab super-stocks, or are they gimmicks to be avoided?

#2

Morning

Thereā€™s no magic bullet for stock picking otherwise everyone would be doing that for a living and making lots of money.

The likes of Stockopedia or Simply wallstreet display important stock financials and metrics that saves time for a lot of people allowing you to focus in on the details that matter, rather than sifting though financial reports for hours.

Stockrank is again a past indicator which has no guarantee on future performance.

#3

I use simply wall st. You can literally delete your profile and start a new trial every 7 days with the same email forever

#4

I just tried this, though it doesnā€™t seem to give you full access, it says at the top ā€œInvestor Trial Plan 7 Days leftā€ but still only has the 10 stock view limit?

#5

You can get 10 stock views per month anyway without subscription on Simply Wall Street.

#6

How accurate is the data /info?

#7

I see the likes of stockopedia and koyfin as data consolidation/visualisation tools - key parts of my investor toolkit really. Donā€™t think of them as giving ā€œstock tipsā€ but more like starting point and ideas for further research.

#8

Hello,

Professional investor here. Yes, Stockopedia is brilliant. Probably the best out there. Hereā€™s why: When picking the best stocks, either for a swing trade or for a long-term investment, truth is that itā€™s going to consume a lot of time. Imagine spending 3-4 hours doing the research, only to find that this stock is rubbish. And then, you find a great stock, but then you realise you missed your chance after wasting 3-4 hours on the rubbish one. This is exactly when Stockopedia comes into play. The way they filter out the best-play stocks from the worst-play stocks is something that Iā€™ve never seen before. By the way, Iā€™ve got access to the Bloomberg Terminal and to be fair, even the Terminal doesnā€™t offer what this offers. Iā€™ve only had them since December last year (2020) and god, itā€™s a life-changer. Only thing missing is more information on analyst ratings, which Bloomberg offers in detail -which is key to understand sentiment. But Stockopediaā€™s analysis really does work and as far as Iā€™m concerned, all the stocks I found with them have nicely appreciated until now since December. Of course, we were in a strong bull market until now, so it also depends on how these stocks perform in a bear market.

Of course, you shouldnā€™t take their research as full on advice. The whole point is to see which stocks are best. So that when youā€™re expecting a technical breakout, the best stocks with the best fundamentals will breakout in the best way. On the other hand, I wouldnā€™t trust Simply Wall St. I tried a trial with them, I didnā€™t really like what I saw and the interface feels unprofessional. Same applies to Zacks.

At the end of the day, paying a high monthly cost for Stockopedia is definitely worth it. By picking the best stocks in a bull market, youā€™re bound to offset the monthly costs with the profits you make. Iā€™d highly recommend them. Of course, Iā€™m not giving you financial advice. Stockopedia isnā€™t financial advice as well, itā€™s simply there to stop you from wasting time on stocks which are considered poor/rubbish. Thatā€™s all there is. Then you take your analysis to the next step, such as technical analysis.

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#9

Fair enough, thank you for the answer.

I may have been asking in too narrow a form; Since Iā€™m new, I donā€™t really have much of a grasp on the research side of things, so for me right now itā€™s still just a series of green and red lights! So, although Iā€™ll see green/red, I donā€™t think Iā€™m in a position to make much judgement on it yet. One for the future when Iā€™m more confident perhaps? :smiley:

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#10

Spending Ā£300+ for an annual subscription (UK and US) for a new investor and advice coming from someone who has just started using the service in question in a bull market is not a very sound advice.

Thereā€™s plenty of examples where ā€˜90+ā€˜ ranked stocks have crashed dramatically due to various factors and users have ended up bagholding.

As some else said there is no magic formula so start small and learn as much as you can with the resources available both freely and paid(books mainly).

Diversify your investment and rebalance regularly to ensure healthy growth of your portfolio.

Down the line when you have a decent portfolio, itā€™s fine to invest in above mentioned products as you will by then have sufficient knowledge and can make educated decisions on your next investment with the information from these sites and your own research.

Good luck!

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#11

Well Iā€™m a huge fan.
Factor based investing is about buying a basket of stocks so yes of course one high ranked stock can fail but thatā€™s why you buy a basket of stocks.

Iā€™ve started a YT channel recently and Stockopedia and Freetrade is at the heart of my mission to open up the investing markets to every day people who know nothing about the stock market or business finance.

Best of luck to you all

Phil