ValuePickr Stock Screener | Syntax

Screener Syntax

You will find below complete details on Valuepickr stock screener syntax, we currently support. In case you need additional help, please feel free to raise your query at the Getting started. Help! section at the Forum.

Expression

A stock screen comprises of a series of expressions or filters that are used to query our stocks database  sequentially. This process if done well, can lead us to a promising shortlist of stocks.

An Expression specifies the criteria used to query our stocks database. The expression comprises of Variables (with associated Data Types, Period and Distance) compared against another variable or a Value (Literals). Comparisons are performed using Operators. (>,< and so on).

Expressions can also be combined together in a single step, using "and", "or" operators in between

e.g. EPS_LFY>0 and EPS_PY1>0; EPS_LFY>0 or EPS_PY1>0 (lowercase only)

Data Types

Our Stock Screener supports 5 data types

1. Number
2. String
3. Date
4. Ratio
5. List

Ratios are currently treated as String and the only operator supported for them are comparison (=, <>)

Variables

A variable has a name and an optional period suffix separated by an _ . The name of the variable should start with an alphabet and can contain only alphabets, digits, %, &.

Period Types

A Variable can have associated period types. These are

1. Yearly
2. Quarterly
3. Monthly
4. Daily
5. Anytime

The suffixes for each of these period types looks like

As you can see, a single variable name can be associated with multiple period types (e.g. EPS). Another thing to note is that daily variables support only the last day's value. (e.g. Price)

Distance

We call the number in the suffix as distance. e.g. EPS_PY1 has distance=1, EPS_PY2 has distance=2, EPS_LFY has distance=0, FV has distance=0. Distance, as it suggests, indicates how many periods away it is from current.

Literals

Literals are the exact values you specify in an expression. These are

• Number

     A positive or negative integer or float. e.g. 1, 1.1, -42

• String

     Anything between double quotes. e.g. "BSE-500"

• Date

     Dates are of the form YYYY-MM-DD. e.g. 2009-07-06

• Ratio

     Ratios are treated as Strings. e.g. "1:3". There is no special meaning to ratios as of now.

Operators

Supported operators are =, <>, <, >, <=,>=, +, -, *, /, %, in . Not all data types support all these operators.

• Numbers support all the operators except "in"
• Strings support only =, <>. Strings will support "in" if the RHS (right hand side) of an expression is of type list. e.g. "BSE-500" in Index; i.e. "BSE-500" is the string, Index is a List, and the operator is in
• Dates support only comparison operators. e.g. ExBonusDate <= 2009-01-01
• Ratios are same as Strings
• Lists support only "in" operator. The LHS (left hand side) should be a String and RHS should be a variable of type List. e.g. "BSE-500" in Index

Sector, Industry, Sub-Industry

• Sector="x"; e.g. Sector="Chemicals"
• Industry="y"; e.g. Industry="Plastics"
• SubIndustry="z"; e.g. SubIndustry="Plastic Packaging goods"
• EPS_LFY >EPS_PY1

The above expression (EPS_LFY >EPS_PY1) will thus be executed only on stocks that match "Plastic Packaging goods" Subindustry.

For a complete list of sector, industry, and subindustry categories, please view the ValuePickr Industry structure.