Stock Selection

Stock selection in stock analysis refers to the careful and deliberate process of choosing specific company stocks from a wide range of options and including them in an investment portfolio. The primary objective of this strategy is to identify and include stocks that align with specific investment goals and strategies. 

The practice of stock selection has been prevalent since the 1960s, enabling investors to make informed decisions about which stocks to include in their portfolios. Effective stock selection can result in profitable investments, passive income generation, and wealth accumulation. However, selecting the right stocks can be challenging due to the various asset classes and factors that must be considered during the process.

• Stock selection is a quantitative investment strategy that helps investors pick the right company stocks for their portfolios.
• Stock selection aims to choose good quality, profitable, and value accumulation stocks.
• Benjamin Graham stated seven criteria for stock selection in his book "The Intelligent Investor" in 1949.
• The two popular strategies for stock selection involve a top-down and bottom-up approach, which can be performed using fundamental or market (technical) analysis.

Stock selection is a process within the investment strategy where investors and portfolio managers study the market and select certain stocks in their portfolios. It is a type of quantitative investment strategy. However, it does not make any predictions about the trends of the stocks. Still, the investor can pull the right stocks to be profitable during the tenure. 

Investors can use stock selection for intraday as well as long-term trading. In contrast, they can also perform a stock selection for options trading. Likewise, futures and swing trading stock selection are also possible. However, there are certain methods for conducting this selection. 

There are two popular stock selection methods: fundamental analysis and market (technical) analysis. Here, the former focuses on the fundamentals and financial ratios. In comparison, the latter considers the charts, volume, bearish, and bullish candles. 

Under the fundamental selection, industry rotation, style rotation, and multi-factor models are primarily used. The industry or sector rotation model helps understand the strong sectors and industries. In contrast, style rotation involves many investment styles within the same portfolio. Likewise, the multi-factor model considers various factors to give average returns against risk. 

Technical analysis plays a vital role in the investors' stock selection using market sources. It depends more on the price-related data. So, traders can use the price history to pick stocks. Most traders rely on market analysis as it becomes easier to track trends as data and volume is already available. 

It can be hard to follow one method and pick stocks. If traders use either of them, major information or market sentiment might be missed. Therefore, they use a mixture of both to choose the right stocks. As a result, efficient, profitable stocks are included in the portfolio. 

American economist Benjamin Graham's swing trading stock selection criteria for intraday and other trades are well-known. They were published in the book "The Intelligent Investor" in 1949. So, let us look at the different criteria useful for the stock selection for options trading:

#1 - Quality Rating For Assets

According to popular investor Benjamin Graham, the company's rating is vital. Thus, companies with good ratings have a higher value. And to check its quality, S&P (Standard and Poor) rating is the best metric. Therefore, Graham suggested a rating of B or more (A). 

#2 - Consistent Earnings And Dividends

Before selecting any stock, the financials of that company play an important role. For example, a firm with good year-on-year growth for five years depicts a growing company. As a result, it becomes easy for them to create reserves for shareholders. Thus, firms can distribute excess as dividends, creating a passive income source. 

#3 - Company Size

Graham suggests that a company's size and structure also affect the stock selection decision. As per Benjamin Graham, large companies are more successful as they do not over or underperform. Also, they are less volatile to market sentiments. Thus, large caps should be on the checklist before picking the stocks. 

#4 - Healthy Current Ratio

Another important criterion for picking stocks depends on the company's liquidity ratio. If the company's debt is more, it indicates a near-to-bankruptcy situation. Therefore, it is necessary to have a current ratio of more than 1.5 times. 

#5 - Good Financial Leverage 

A good leverage indicates that the firm has more assets than the debt owed. Therefore, Graham suggested stocks that have financial leverage (debt-to-current asset) of less than 1.1. 

Let us look at the strategies for the stock selection for a better understanding:

#1 - Top-Down Selection Approach 

In financial markets, a top-down strategy refers to a macro view of the entire market. Starting from a nation's economy to industries, sectors, and finally to individual companies. Investors try to take a sky view of the stock market and pick the appropriate ones. One of the biggest flexes is that there is a real analysis of the entire economy. As a result, they tend to select the right ones in their portfolio. 

#2 - Bottom-Up Stock Selection

Bottom-up stock selection is the opposite of the top-down approach. While the latter has a macro view, the former provides a microscopic view of the process. Here, the investor tries to build a staircase using companies as the initial step. This approach helps in finding fundamentally strong stocks. Later, the analysis moves ahead toward segregation into sectors and industries. First, however, the companies are chosen on various fundamentals. Then, in the end, the economic factors are considered. 

Although asset allocation and stock selection are pillars of the same base, they have quite distinctions between them. So, let us look at their differences:

This has been a guide to Stock Selection and its meaning. We explain it with its strategies, criteria, and comparison with asset allocation. You can learn more about it from the following articles –

• Stock Trading
• Hedge Fund Strategies
• Real Estate vs Stock Investment