P123 Step-By-Step
Interesting Insights From Portfolio123 Reports (Chapter 8)

Often Portfolio123 users don't focus on specific attributes of the individual companies and stocks that move into and out of their models. Ticker and model performance characteristics usually suffice. But there are times when you will want to know more and on those occasions the Portfolio123 screener reports can tell you what you want to know. And those with creative inclinations can glean some especially useful insights, especially in the area of technical analysis.   Full Article »

Idea Lab
A Portfolio123 Strategy: The Prudent Yield Hog

Income investing has long been popular because many investors value the cash streams thrown off by such portfolios while others cherish the lesser volatility we usually associate with them. Most income strategies, though, require users to suppress natural tendencies to reach for the highest yields they can find. The reasons for this are sensible: The highest-yielding stocks are often too-risky and wind up performing badly as business deteriorates and dividends get cut. But perhaps we go further than we must in the interest of safety. Maybe there is a way to chase yield without stumbling over the edge of a cliff.   Full Article »

Idea Lab
Reverse Takeover Companies: Love Them, Hate Them, Find Them

The just-introduced Portfolio123 Country function opens up an interesting new set of screening opportunities. You can now easily find, or eliminate one of the most interesting or dangerous (depending on your point of view) groups of companies in the market today: the reverse takeover (RTO) firms.   Full Article »

What's Working
The Greenblatt Strategy: K-I-S-S, Or Not

In this context, K-I-S-S does not refer to the rock band, but to the adage "Keep it simple stupid." The phrase was coined as part of a plea to military aircraft designers to build in such a way as to facilitate repair by a typical combat field mechanic with no more than a very basic set of tools. Beyond that, the phrase seems to have found another home in internet-era Wall Street, where data and tools are so ubiquitous as to make it seem that anybody could analyze stocks as well as any guru.   Full Article »

What's Working
Slippage: A Fresh Look

In backtesting and simulation, it seems an article of faith that we need to include an assumption for slippage. But I'm not so sure. For holding periods of a week or more, we may want to give serious consideration to testing with a minimal, or even zero, slippage assumption.   Full Article »