Stock Screening Guide¶

This guide covers advanced stock screening techniques using the yf screen command.

Table of Contents¶

Overview
Predefined Criteria
Custom Expressions
Expression Syntax
Common Screening Strategies
Tips and Best Practices

Overview¶

Stock screening helps you filter a list of stocks based on specific criteria. The yf screen command supports:

Predefined criteria - Quick filters for common strategies
Custom expressions - Build your own filtering logic

Basic Usage¶

yf screen <SYMBOLS...> --criteria=<type> [--where <expression>]

Predefined Criteria¶

Predefined criteria provide quick filtering without writing expressions.

Value Stocks¶

Focuses on potentially undervalued stocks.

Criteria: - P/E ratio < 20 - Dividend yield > 2%

yf screen AAPL MSFT JPM BAC GS WFC KO PG --criteria=value

Use when: Looking for stocks trading below market average valuation with dividend income.

Growth Stocks¶

Focuses on stocks with positive momentum.

Criteria: - Positive price change today (change% > 0)

yf screen AAPL MSFT GOOGL AMZN TSLA NVDA --criteria=growth

Use when: Looking for stocks with upward momentum.

Dividend Stocks¶

Focuses on income-generating stocks.

Criteria: - Dividend yield > 2%

yf screen T VZ XOM CVX PFE JNJ --criteria=dividend

Use when: Building an income portfolio.

Momentum Stocks¶

Focuses on strong performers with high activity.

Criteria: - Price change > 2% - Volume above average

yf screen AAPL MSFT GOOGL AMZN TSLA NVDA META --criteria=momentum

Use when: Looking for stocks with strong recent performance.

Custom Expressions¶

Custom expressions let you define your own screening logic.

Basic Format¶

yf screen SYMBOLS... --criteria=custom --where "EXPRESSION"

Simple Expression¶

yf screen AAPL MSFT GOOGL --criteria=custom --where "price > 200"

This returns only stocks priced above $200.

Expression Syntax¶

Comparison Operators¶

Operator	Meaning	Example
`<`	Less than	`pe < 20`
`>`	Greater than	`price > 100`
`<=`	Less than or equal	`pe <= 20`
`>=`	Greater than or equal	`yield >= 2`
`=`	Equal to	`price = 150`
`!=`	Not equal to	`volume != 0`

Boolean Operators¶

Operator	Meaning	Example
`and`	Both conditions must be true	`pe < 20 and yield > 2`
`or`	Either condition must be true	`pe < 15 or yield > 3`

Available Fields¶

Price Fields: - price - Current market price - change - Absolute price change - changepercent - Percentage change - open - Opening price - high - Day's high price - low - Day's low price - prevclose - Previous closing price

52-Week Fields: - 52whigh - 52-week high - 52wlow - 52-week low
- 52wchangepercent - % change from 52-week low

Volume Fields: - volume - Trading volume today - avgvolume - Average daily volume

Valuation Fields: - pe - Price-to-earnings ratio - yield - Dividend yield (%) - marketcap - Market capitalization

Arithmetic in Expressions¶

You can use basic arithmetic:

# Near 52-week high (within 5%)
yf screen SYMBOLS --criteria=custom --where "price >= 52whigh * 0.95"

# Volume above 2x average
yf screen SYMBOLS --criteria=custom --where "volume > avgvolume * 2"

# Price range check
yf screen SYMBOLS --criteria=custom --where "price > 52wlow * 1.2 and price < 52whigh * 0.9"

Common Screening Strategies¶

Value Investing¶

Find undervalued stocks with good fundamentals.

# Low P/E with dividends
yf screen AAPL MSFT JPM BAC WFC GS \
  --criteria=custom \
  --where "pe < 20 and yield > 2"

# Cheap stocks with positive change
yf screen AAPL MSFT JPM BAC WFC \
  --criteria=custom \
  --where "pe < 15 and changepercent > 0 and price > 10"

# Deep value with margin of safety
yf screen AAPL MSFT JPM BAC WFC KO PG \
  --criteria=custom \
  --where "pe < 12 and yield > 3 and price < 52whigh * 0.7"

Growth Investing¶

Find stocks with strong momentum.

# Strong daily gainers
yf screen AAPL MSFT GOOGL AMZN TSLA NVDA \
  --criteria=custom \
  --where "changepercent > 2"

# Positive momentum with volume
yf screen AAPL MSFT GOOGL AMZN TSLA \
  --criteria=custom \
  --where "changepercent > 1 and volume > 10000000"

# Near highs with momentum
yf screen AAPL MSFT GOOGL NVDA AMD \
  --criteria=custom \
  --where "price >= 52whigh * 0.9 and changepercent > 0"

Income Investing¶

Find dividend-paying stocks.

# High-yield dividend stocks
yf screen T VZ XOM CVX PFE JNJ KO PG \
  --criteria=custom \
  --where "yield > 3"

# Dividend growth
yf screen T VZ XOM CVX PFE JNJ \
  --criteria=custom \
  --where "yield > 2 and changepercent > 0"

# Quality dividends
yf screen T VZ XOM CVX JNJ KO PG \
  --criteria=custom \
  --where "yield > 2 and pe < 25 and price > 50"

Technical Analysis¶

Find technical setups.

# Breakout candidates (near 52-week high)
yf screen AAPL MSFT GOOGL NVDA AMD \
  --criteria=custom \
  --where "price >= 52whigh * 0.95"

# Oversold (near 52-week low)
yf screen AAPL MSFT GOOGL AMZN \
  --criteria=custom \
  --where "price <= 52wlow * 1.1"

# High volume breakout
yf screen AAPL MSFT GOOGL TSLA NVDA \
  --criteria=custom \
  --where "changepercent > 2 and volume > avgvolume * 1.5"

Volatility Plays¶

Find volatile stocks.

# Large movers (up or down)
yf screen AAPL MSFT GOOGL AMZN TSLA \
  --criteria=custom \
  --where "changepercent > 3 or changepercent < -3"

# High volume activity
yf screen AAPL MSFT GOOGL AMZN TSLA NVDA \
  --criteria=custom \
  --where "volume > 50000000"

Price Range Filters¶

Find stocks in specific price ranges.

# Affordable stocks under $50
yf screen AAPL MSFT GOOGL AMZN T VZ \
  --criteria=custom \
  --where "price < 50 and price > 10"

# Mid-cap range
yf screen AAPL MSFT GOOGL AMZN \
  --criteria=custom \
  --where "price > 100 and price < 300"

# High-priced stocks
yf screen AAPL MSFT GOOGL AMZN TSLA \
  --criteria=custom \
  --where "price > 200"

Tips and Best Practices¶

1. Start with a Universe¶

Define your stock universe before screening:

# Create a watchlist file
cat > watchlist.txt << EOF
AAPL
MSFT
GOOGL
AMZN
TSLA
NVDA
META
EOF

# Screen the watchlist
yf screen $(cat watchlist.txt) --criteria=value

2. Combine Multiple Filters¶

Use and to make filters more selective:

# Quality value stocks
yf screen SYMBOLS --criteria=custom \
  --where "pe < 20 and yield > 2 and price > 50 and volume > 1000000"

3. Use OR for Alternatives¶

Find stocks matching any of several criteria:

# Value OR growth
yf screen SYMBOLS --criteria=custom \
  --where "pe < 15 or changepercent > 3"

4. Export Results¶

Save screening results for later analysis:

# Export to CSV
yf screen SYMBOLS --criteria=value --format=csv > value_stocks.csv

# Export to JSON
yf screen SYMBOLS --criteria=custom \
  --where "pe < 20" --format=json > results.json

5. Automate Screening¶

Create scripts for regular screening:

#!/bin/bash
# daily_screen.sh

UNIVERSE="AAPL MSFT GOOGL AMZN TSLA NVDA META JPM BAC GS"

echo "=== Value Stocks ==="
yf screen $UNIVERSE --criteria=value

echo ""
echo "=== Growth Stocks ==="
yf screen $UNIVERSE --criteria=growth

echo ""
echo "=== Custom: Quality Growth ==="
yf screen $UNIVERSE --criteria=custom \
  --where "changepercent > 1 and volume > 10000000"

6. Iterate and Refine¶

Start broad, then narrow down:

# Step 1: Find all gainers
yf screen SYMBOLS --criteria=custom --where "changepercent > 0"

# Step 2: Add volume filter
yf screen SYMBOLS --criteria=custom \
  --where "changepercent > 0 and volume > 5000000"

# Step 3: Add valuation filter
yf screen SYMBOLS --criteria=custom \
  --where "changepercent > 0 and volume > 5000000 and pe < 30"

7. Mind the Data Quality¶

Not all fields are available for all stocks:

# Some stocks may not have P/E ratios
# Be aware that these will be filtered out
yf screen SYMBOLS --criteria=custom --where "pe < 20"

# Check results manually if needed
yf quote SYMBOL --format=json | grep -i "trailingPE"

8. Combine with Other Tools¶

Integrate screening with Unix tools:

# Screen and sort by change percentage
yf screen SYMBOLS --criteria=growth --format=csv | \
  tail -n +2 | sort -t, -k3 -nr

# Screen and extract symbols only
yf screen SYMBOLS --criteria=value --format=minimal | \
  cut -d' ' -f1 > value_symbols.txt

# Screen multiple times and compare
yf screen SYMBOLS --criteria=value --format=csv > value.csv
yf screen SYMBOLS --criteria=growth --format=csv > growth.csv
comm -12 <(tail -n +2 value.csv | cut -d, -f1 | sort) \
         <(tail -n +2 growth.csv | cut -d, -f1 | sort)

Expression Examples Library¶

By P/E Ratio¶

# Very cheap (P/E < 10)
"pe < 10"

# Reasonable valuation (P/E < 20)
"pe < 20"

# Growth stocks (P/E 20-40)
"pe > 20 and pe < 40"

By Dividend Yield¶

# High yield (> 3%)
"yield > 3"

# Moderate yield (1-3%)
"yield > 1 and yield < 3"

# Dividend payers with growth
"yield > 2 and changepercent > 0"

By Price Change¶

# Strong gainers (> 2%)
"changepercent > 2"

# Any gainers
"changepercent > 0"

# Decliners
"changepercent < 0"

# Extreme movers (up or down)
"changepercent > 5 or changepercent < -5"

By Volume¶

# High volume (> 50M)
"volume > 50000000"

# Above average volume
"volume > avgvolume"

# Volume spike (2x average)
"volume > avgvolume * 2"

By 52-Week Range¶

# Near 52-week high (top 5%)
"price >= 52whigh * 0.95"

# Near 52-week low (bottom 10%)
"price <= 52wlow * 1.1"

# Middle of range
"price > 52wlow * 1.3 and price < 52whigh * 0.7"

Troubleshooting¶

No Results Returned¶

Cause: Criteria too restrictive or no stocks match.

Solution: - Relax your criteria - Check if fields are available for your stocks - Verify expression syntax

"Invalid expression" Error¶

Cause: Syntax error in expression.

Solution: - Check field names (use price not Price) - Verify operators (and not AND) - Ensure proper spacing around operators - Check for typos

Unexpected Results¶

Cause: Expression logic issue or data availability.

Solution: - Test with simple expressions first - Verify data with yf quote command - Check if optional fields (P/E, yield) are available - Review boolean logic (and vs or)