Page Updated on October 9, 2026
Stock Screening is the third step of the StockZuse Research Strategy. Its purpose is to move from the four Target Industries identified during Industry Selection to individual Company Candidates.
Each of the four Target Industries is screened separately using the same defined screening criteria. Stocks that meet those criteria are then ranked within their industry using the LSEG StarMine Equity Summary Score (ESS), available through Fidelity, and the three highest-ranked qualifying stocks from each industry become Company Candidates.
This produces a consistent transition from industry-level research to individual-company research:
4 Target Industries → 12 Company Candidates
What Stock Screening Does
Stock Screening performs two related functions.
First, it applies defined criteria to determine which companies within a Target Industry meet the minimum eligibility requirements of the Research Strategy.
Second, it ranks those qualifying stocks using the LSEG StarMine Equity Summary Score (ESS) to determine which three companies from the industry advance.
The screening and ranking process is performed independently for each of the four Target Industries.
Stock Screening therefore answers the next Research Strategy question:
Which qualifying companies within each Target Industry currently rank highest by ESS?
The Fidelity Stock Screener
StockZuse developed and tested this stage of the Research Strategy using Fidelity’s Stock Screener.
A Fidelity account and login are required to access the Fidelity Stock Screener.
After signing in to Fidelity, open the Stock Screener and follow the StockZuse screening procedure described below.
One advantage of using Fidelity throughout the Research Strategy is that the sector and industry classifications used in the Fidelity Sector Tool carry directly into the Stock Screener. The Target Industries identified during Industry Selection can therefore be located in the Stock Screener without mapping them to a different industry classification system.
Fidelity’s Stock Screener also provides the LSEG StarMine Equity Summary Score (ESS) used to rank qualifying stocks during Stock Screening.
Fidelity provides the research tools and classification framework. StockZuse provides the Research Strategy rules for using that information.
Fidelity and the Equity Summary Score
The current StockZuse Research Strategy uses the LSEG StarMine Equity Summary Score (ESS), available through Fidelity, to rank stocks that have met the Baseline Screening Criteria.
ESS combines the ratings of independent research providers into a standardized score. It provides a forward-looking indication of research sentiment toward a stock.
Within the StockZuse Research Strategy, ESS has a specific and limited purpose: ranking qualifying stocks within each Target Industry to identify the three Company Candidates.
ESS is not a StockZuse score and is not part of the ZuseScore Methodology. ZuseScore independently evaluates the Business Quality of each Company Candidate using objective company financial information and defined scoring rules.
Because ESS is part of the current candidate-selection procedure, the StockZuse Research Strategy described in this document uses Fidelity’s implementation of ESS.
Four Separate Stock Screenings
Perform a separate screening for each of the four Target Industries identified during Step 2, Industry Selection.
Do not combine the four Target Industries into a single screening.
Each screening uses the following six criteria:
| Screening Criterion | StockZuse Rule |
|---|---|
| Sector/Industry/Sub-Industry | Target Industry |
| Market Capitalization | $2 billion or greater |
| Security Type | Common Stock |
| Free Cash Flow | 0 or greater |
| Revenue Growth (TTM vs. Prior TTM) | 0% or greater |
| Company Headquarters Location | United States of America |
The Sector/Industry/Sub-Industry criterion changes for each of the four screenings. The remaining five criteria are the StockZuse Baseline Screening Criteria and remain the same.
After these criteria establish the qualifying stocks, Equity Summary Score (ESS) is used to rank the results.
ESS is a ranking measure, not a Baseline Screening Criterion. StockZuse does not require a minimum ESS.
How to Screen a Target Industry
A Fidelity account and login are required to access the Fidelity Stock Screener.
Open Fidelity’s Stock Screener to begin screening one of the four Target Industries identified during Industry Selection.
After signing in to Fidelity, open the Stock Screener.
Add the screening criteria described below.
Sector/Industry/Sub-Industry
Add the Sector/Industry/Sub-Industry criterion.
Locate the sector containing the Target Industry. Click the + control next to the sector to display the industries within that sector.
Select the industry identified during Industry Selection.
When an industry is selected, Fidelity automatically selects its corresponding parent sector as part of the selection.
The direct relationship between Fidelity’s Sector Tool and Stock Screener allows the Target Industry to carry from Industry Selection into Stock Screening without translating it into a different classification system.
Market Capitalization
Add the Market Capitalization criterion.
Use the custom value fields and enter $2.00B as the minimum Market Capitalization. Leave the maximum field blank. Fidelity will automatically populate the maximum with the highest value currently available in the screener.
The StockZuse criterion is:
Market Capitalization: $2 billion or greater
StockZuse does not impose a maximum Market Capitalization.
Use the specific $2 billion minimum rather than Fidelity’s predefined market-cap categories.
Security Type
Add the Security Type criterion.
Select:
Common Stock
Do not select Common Stock (REIT) or the other available security types.
The current StockZuse Research Strategy and ZuseScore Methodology are designed around conventional operating companies. Restricting the screen to Common Stock helps maintain a company universe compatible with that analytical framework.
This does not mean that other security types are necessarily unsuitable investments. They are outside the intended scope of the current Research Strategy.
Free Cash Flow
Add the Free Cash Flow criterion.
Use the custom value fields and enter 0.00 as the minimum Free Cash Flow. Leave the maximum field blank. Fidelity will automatically populate the maximum with the highest value currently available in the screener.
The StockZuse criterion is:
Free Cash Flow: 0 or greater
StockZuse does not impose a maximum Free Cash Flow.
This is a minimum eligibility requirement. A more detailed evaluation of Free Cash Flow occurs later as part of the ZuseScore Methodology.
Revenue Growth (TTM vs. Prior TTM)
Add the Revenue Growth (TTM vs. Prior TTM) criterion.
Use the custom value fields and enter 0.00% as the minimum Revenue Growth. Leave the maximum field blank. Fidelity will automatically populate the maximum with the highest value currently available in the screener.
The StockZuse criterion is:
Revenue Growth (TTM vs. Prior TTM): 0% or greater
StockZuse does not impose a maximum Revenue Growth requirement.
This criterion establishes a minimum requirement at the screening stage. The magnitude and longer-term characteristics of a company’s revenue growth are evaluated separately by ZuseScore.
Company Headquarters Location
Add the Company Headquarters Location criterion.
Expand North America, if necessary, and select:
United States of America
When United States of America is selected, Fidelity automatically selects its parent category, North America.
Fidelity may therefore indicate that North America is selected as part of the criterion. The StockZuse screening requirement remains United States of America.
The United States of America requirement helps ensure that Company Candidates are compatible with the ZuseScore Methodology. ZuseScore is currently designed to analyze U.S. companies that report financial information to the SEC using U.S. GAAP.
A company does not need to be a member of the S&P 500 to qualify for Stock Screening.
The S&P 500 sectors used earlier in the Research Strategy provide the starting framework for Sector Selection. They do not limit Stock Screening to S&P 500 constituent companies.
Rank the Qualifying Stocks
After the six screening criteria have been applied, the results represent the stocks within the Target Industry that meet the StockZuse screening requirements.
The next step is to add the LSEG StarMine Equity Summary Score (ESS) so the qualifying stocks can be ranked.
Add the Equity Summary Score
In the Fidelity Stock Screener criteria list, expand:
Analyst Opinions
Select:
Equity Summary Score (ESS) from LSEG StarMine
Do not set a minimum or maximum ESS requirement. ESS is not a Baseline Screening Criterion. It is used only to rank the stocks that have already qualified under the StockZuse screening criteria.
Sort by Equity Summary Score
After adding Equity Summary Score (ESS) from LSEG StarMine, locate the ESS column in the screening results.
Sort the ESS column from highest to lowest.
Select the Three Company Candidates
From the ranked results, select the three qualifying stocks with the highest ESS values.
These three stocks become the Company Candidates from that Target Industry.
If two stocks are tied at the third-position cutoff, either tied stock may be selected.
Repeat the complete screening and ranking procedure for each of the other three Target Industries.
The same five Baseline Screening Criteria and the same ESS ranking rule are used for every industry. Only the Sector/Industry/Sub-Industry selection changes.
After all four Target Industries have been screened, three Company Candidates will have been identified from each industry.
Why Screen Each Industry Separately?
Each Target Industry earned its place in the Research Strategy independently during Industry Selection.
StockZuse therefore preserves that structure during Stock Screening rather than combining companies from all four industries into a single ranking.
Selecting three Company Candidates from each Target Industry ensures that every industry advancing from the previous stage is represented in the Company Candidate group.
This also prevents an industry containing a larger number of qualifying companies from dominating the candidate pool simply because more stocks happen to pass the screening criteria.
Why Use Baseline Screening Criteria?
The five Baseline Screening Criteria establish minimum company eligibility before ESS is used for ranking.
They are intentionally different from ZuseScore.
Stock Screening determines whether a company meets the minimum requirements to participate in the candidate-selection process. ZuseScore later performs a more detailed and objective evaluation of each Company Candidate using defined Business Quality metrics and scoring rules.
Keeping these functions separate prevents Stock Screening from becoming a simplified version of ZuseScore.
Why Use the Equity Summary Score?
The earlier stages of the Research Strategy use trailing one-year market performance to identify areas of market leadership at the sector and industry levels.
Once the Research Strategy reaches individual companies, StockZuse uses a different type of information to rank the qualifying stocks.
The LSEG StarMine Equity Summary Score (ESS), available through Fidelity, combines ratings from independent research providers and provides a forward-looking indication of research sentiment toward a stock.
Using ESS at this stage allows the Research Strategy to consider current research sentiment when determining which qualifying companies become Company Candidates, rather than extending trailing price performance to the individual-stock level.
StockZuse does not require a company to achieve a particular ESS. ESS is used only to rank stocks that have already met the Baseline Screening Criteria.
The three highest-ranked qualifying stocks within each Target Industry advance to ZuseScore Evaluation.
ESS does not determine whether a company has strong Business Quality. That is the separate purpose of ZuseScore.
What the Results Mean
Selection as a Company Candidate does not mean that StockZuse considers a company a good investment or expects its stock price to perform well in the future.
It means that the company:
- belongs to one of the four Target Industries,
- meets the defined StockZuse screening criteria, and
- ranks among the three highest qualifying stocks in that industry by Equity Summary Score.
Likewise, a company that does not become a Company Candidate has not failed a comprehensive investment-quality test. It simply does not advance under the defined Stock Screening rules during that Research Strategy run.
Screening results and Equity Summary Scores can change over time. Repeating the Research Strategy later may therefore produce different Company Candidates.
Stock Screening is used for candidate discovery, not portfolio management or as a buy or sell signal.
Stock Screening Result
At the completion of Stock Screening, each of the four Target Industries has been screened independently using the same defined criteria. The qualifying stocks within each industry have been ranked by Equity Summary Score, and the three highest-ranked qualifying stocks from each industry have been selected.
4 Target Industries → 12 Company Candidates
These 12 Company Candidates now advance to ZuseScore Evaluation, where each company is objectively evaluated using the defined financial metrics, formulas, and scoring rules of the ZuseScore Methodology.