At theScreener.com we have identified three strategies that we feel, if used correctly, can help you to build a solid portfolio. The strategies described below will provide you with a point-of-reference that will help you to better understand our product and how to get the most out of it.

Index Investing:
an index approach to investing implies that you purchase "blue chip" stocks found in major indexes. This is usually a long-term approach to investing and tends to be only as risky as the market itself. By index investing you are likely to achieve returns relative to the index in which your stock is located. Therefore, at the end of the year if the index is up or down 15%, then, generally, so are your stocks.

Asset Allocation Investing:
an asset allocation approach to investing involves picking high-quality stocks with the goal of "beating the index". For example if your local index is the CAC 40, and it goes up 4%, then the return you would like from your asset allocation stocks would ultimately be higher than 4%. On the downside, if the CAC 40 drops 8%, your goal with an asset allocation stock is that it will drop less than 8%. Typically the time that you hold onto your asset allocation stocks is shorter than that for your index investing stocks. This approach implies slightly more risk than index investing.

Trading Opportunity:
of the three investment strategies described in this section in terms of desired returns this one is the most aggressive, and therefore can be considered to imply most risk. The idea here is to buy stocks that in general terms seem to be "moving up". This is why you will find our Trading Opportunities listed in the Stock Screener under the title of "Timing". Typically, a trading opportunity lasts for a short amount of time. At shortest it can last one update. Understanding the risk involved in a Trading Opportunity, theScreener.com programs in a progressive Take Profit / Stop limit for each. The limit we set is optional; it is completely up to you to decide whether or not this limit fits your investment strategy.

New Trading Opportunity: a stock is only considered a New Trading Opportunity for the duration of one update. At the moment of the next update, depending on the movement of the stock price, it is either closed (as a Take Profit / Stop), or it continues as an Open Position.

If you decide to invest in an Open Position, it is important to watch it closely, as it may already be mature. You can always check the date and price at which a stock became a New Trading Opportunity, as well as the current Take Profit / Stop limit by looking in the stock's Checklist View and Analysis View under the heading of Timing. You can also find the Take Profit / Stop limit in the stock's Chart View in the form of a dashed blue line that starts the moment a stock becomes a New Trading Opportunity, moves parallel below its price, and ends the moment the stock price line drops below it, thus triggering a Take Profit / Stop signal.

We understand that each investor has a strategy that he/she feels comfortable with, and we encourage you to continue to use that strategy if it has worked well for you. On the other hand, if you feel the strategies described above could be useful, we would suggest you to test them alongside your own strategies until you feel comfortable enough to use them for your investments. Then, ideally, a combination of the three should work best in building a solid portfolio.