What is a good buy today

Screening Filters

1. Market Cap ≥ $10B (market_cap: min 10,000,000,000)

   • Purpose: Focus on established, higher‑quality U.S. companies.
   • Rationale: When someone asks for “a good stock to buy today,” they usually aren’t looking for illiquid penny stocks or speculative micro‑caps. A $10B+ market cap constraint tilts results toward:
     • More mature businesses with proven models
     • Better disclosure and analyst coverage
     • Generally lower single‑name blow‑up risk than very small caps

2. Monthly Average Dollar Volume ≥ $1M (monthly_average_dollar_volume: min 1,000,000)

   • Purpose: Ensure the stocks are sufficiently liquid for easy entry/exit.
   • Rationale: A “good stock to buy today” should be practical to trade:
     • Tight bid/ask spreads and enough trading volume
     • Reduced slippage, especially if the user wants to move in or out quickly
     • Less risk of being “stuck” in a thinly traded name

3. 1‑Month Price Change Between +5% and +40% (month_price_change_pct: min 5, max 40)

   • Purpose: Capture stocks with positive recent momentum, but not names that are already extremely overextended.
   • Rationale:
     • Min +5%: Filters for stocks that are already acting well; buyers have been in control recently, which is usually a better setup than names that are flat or sliding.
     • Max +40%: Avoids chasing parabolic moves that may be due for sharp pullbacks. A stock that’s up 80%+ in a month often has elevated short‑term risk.
     • This range is a compromise between “strong” and “not yet overheated” performance.

4. Listed on Major U.S. Exchanges (list_exchange: XNYS, XNAS, XASE)

   • Purpose: Restrict results to primary U.S. exchanges (NYSE, Nasdaq, NYSE American).
   • Rationale:
     • Directly aligns with “in the US market”
     • Excludes OTC and foreign secondary listings that can be riskier or less transparent
     • These exchanges enforce higher listing standards for reporting, governance, and liquidity

5. Analyst Consensus: Strong Buy or Moderate Buy (analyst_consensus: [Strong Buy, Moderate Buy])

   • Purpose: Include only stocks that Wall Street analysts broadly view as attractive buys.
   • Rationale:
     • “Good stock to buy” implicitly overlaps with consensus positive views
     • Filters out Neutral/Hold, Underperform, and Sell names
     • Leverages the work of multiple analysts (fundamental models, industry views) as an additional quality screen

6. Target Price Above Current Price (target_price_upside_potential: MoreAbovePrice)

   • Purpose: Ensure analysts see further upside from today’s price, not just a good company that’s already fully valued.
   • Rationale:
     • A stock can be “good” fundamentally but still overpriced; this filter keeps only those where average/consensus target prices are meaningfully higher than the current market price.
     • Aligns with the user’s implicit goal: names that still have return potential from today’s entry level.

Why Results Match:

• The screen focuses on U.S.-listed, large, liquid stocks, making them realistic choices for “buy today” execution.
• It prioritizes positive recent performance without going into extreme, blow‑off territory.
• It includes only stocks where analysts are explicitly bullish and still see upside to their target prices, which fits the idea of a “good stock to buy” rather than just a popular or overhyped name.
• Overall, the combined filters narrow the universe to credible, actively traded U.S. companies with current momentum and professional upside expectations, closely aligned with what most investors mean when they ask for a good stock to buy today in the U.S. market.