StockScreen 123

As MSN retires its popular and free stock screener this month, I've been asked many times over the past few weeks for other free stock screening solutions. MSN was one of, if not my favorite free stock screener and honestly there are very few free useful screeners beyond what you can find at Finviz & Google.

In my own work, I use screeners like AAII's Stock Investor Pro ($198 for members & $247 for non-members) among others. I can justify the price because my return on investment outweighs the cost.

StockScreen 123 is a newcomer to the space with a promising future based on my limited experience using and testing the platform this week. Although they require a lengthy registration page where you have to reveal your personal information to access the free tools, once you are past that annoyance a lot of nice features can be found including:

• Screen Backtesting

• Pre-defined screens (Buffett, Graham, Lynch, Greenblatt)

• Style specific screens (Growth, Quality, Sentiment, Value)

• Community screens (Screens created and shared by other users)

• ETF screens

• Performance Tracking

• Sector Performance Tables & Screening

• Customized stock panels

• The Fed Model

When you have time, check it out and let me know what you think. In addition, if there are other completely free screening tools like this you find particularly helpful that I haven't mentioned, let me know and I'll pass them along.

* Update: As of June 2010, it has recently come to my attention that StockScreen 123 is no longer a completely free offering. Readers are encouraged to investigate the pricing plans and take that into consideration when reviewing this screening service. Thank you!