It’s been just under three years since stewardship of the Investors’ Chronicle’s stock screens passed to me. In this time, I’ve tried to preserve the methodologies behind the best, axed some of the weakest, and introduced a few new ideas.
But for UK stocks, it has often felt like a tricky stretch for any investing strategy – data-led approaches included. Periods of FTSE All-Share ascendancy have rarely benefited stocks across the board. Surging oil or bank profits piled on costs for other sectors. Momentum, if it ever arrived, quickly reversed or fizzled out, while swathes of the junior market have been hit by redemptions or simply ignored.
Then again, as of December 2024, it’s fair to say that the stock screens are on fire. Despite this being just my third annual review, I can confidently declare that it probably won’t ever be this good.