How to use the stock screener: 5 ready-made filters

There are thousands of stocks on US exchanges. Going through them one by one is impossible — that's what a screener is for: it applies conditions to the whole list and leaves you only the ones that match. This article covers how the Screener section of the dashboard works and 5 filter recipes you can use right away.

The screener is open to every registered user: register.

What the screener consists of

1. Basic filters — exchange (NASDAQ / NYSE), sector and halal status: Halal, Not halal, Doubtful, Unverified or Unknown. How the status is determined — on the methodology page.

2. Numeric filters — you enter a "min" and/or "max" for each:

• Market cap and Price — in dollars;
• Volume (last day) and Avg volume (3M) — in shares;
• ROE (return on equity), Revenue growth and EPS growth (year over year) — in percent;
• Debt/Equity — a ratio: 1.5 means debt is 150% of equity;
• Free cash flow (FCF, trailing 12 months) — in dollars;
• Day change — in percent, can be negative;
• Short interest (percent) and Days to cover (days).

Large numbers accept shorthand: 1.5B, 300M, 500K.

3. Sorting — by any column, ascending or descending.

4. Stock panel — click a row to open the halal analysis (ratios and reasons), fundamentals, price chart and news. From there you can add the stock to your watchlist or set a price alert.

Two things to know

• A stock with no metrics won't match a numeric filter. Fundamentals are collected from the data source in rotation and are missing for some companies (recent listings, SPACs, small caps). When you set a numeric filter, such stocks drop out of the list — the screener panel shows how many stocks have metrics collected.
• Data refreshes at different speeds. Price and volume update frequently; fundamentals like ROE, debt and growth every few days, since they only change once a quarter. Short interest data (FINRA) can be 1–3 weeks old.

5 ready-made filters

At the top of the screener there's a "Presets:" row — one-click filter sets. Important: the numeric presets (Quality business, Liquid, Growth) don't change the halal selection. So you can click "Halal only" first and then add a numeric preset on top. The recipes below rely on that.

1. Halal + quality business

Halal only → Quality business. The preset sets: ROE at least 15%, Debt/Equity at most 1.5, positive free cash flow; sorted by ROE, descending.

For whom: those looking for durable businesses for the long term. What's left are companies that use capital efficiently, carry moderate debt and generate real cash.

2. Halal + growth

Halal only → Growth. Conditions: revenue growth and EPS growth of at least 15% (year over year); sorted by revenue growth.

Note: high growth often comes with a high valuation and big swings. A one-off jump in a single quarter (a one-time gain, for example) can also pass this filter — check the fundamentals history in the stock panel.

3. Halal + liquid

Halal only → Liquid · not penny. Conditions: average daily volume of at least 1 million shares, price at least $5; sorted by average volume.

For whom: active traders. In thinly traded stocks the gap between bid and ask is wide, and your order can fill far from the price you expected.

4. Halal · low debt

The Halal · low debt preset sorts halal stocks by the debt / market cap ratio, ascending — least indebted first.

Why it helps: a stock sitting close to the halal limit can drop off the list after its next report. Those further from the limit are more stable: Why does a stock's halal status change?.

Don't mix them up: the denominator of this debt ratio is market cap (halal screening), while the numeric Debt/Equity filter divides by shareholders' equity (balance sheet). They answer different questions.

5. Your own preset: halal + a short-risk filter

The built-in presets are only a starting point. For example: Halal only + Quality business, then manually set Short interest max 10. Heavily shorted stocks tend to swing sharply — this filter removes them.

If you like the result, give it a name with the "Save" button. Saved presets are tied to your account — they show up on your phone and your computer alike (up to 30). A preset stores exchange, sector, halal status, numeric filters, search and sorting.

What to do after screening

A screener is a sorting tool, not a "buy" button. Once you have a short list:

1. Open each stock's halal page — look at the ratios, reasons and last check date.
2. Read what the company actually does ("What the company does" in the stock panel).
3. Export the list to CSV or Excel and compare them yourself (export takes the rows on the current page).
4. Add the ones you like to your watchlist and set an alert at your price.

This article is for information only, not investment advice. A screener result is a starting point for analysis, not an offer to buy.