Quant Investing

with Tal Davidson

Net-Net Stocks Screener

Net-Net Stocks Screeners

Net-Net is an investing technique seeking cheap stocks selling at a lower price than their appraised liquidation value. 

An investor in net-net stocks examines the balance sheet to ascertain a conservative value of its asset value at liquidation, net of all liabilities. If a stock is selling at market capitalization significantly lower (say 30% lower) than a conservative evaluation of the value of assets in liquidation, net of all liabilities, than a purchase is considered. In such cases, both liquidation and improvement of business conditions may drive up the stock price. Nevertheless, profiting from such situations is not guaranteed, as the company losses may accrue and reduce liquidation value below the market value of its stocks.

The screeners below list net-net stock candidates. Unlike the strategies on this website, net-net stocks cannot be bought mechanically, based on a quantitative algorithm alone. These screeners serve as a starting point for investors, who should continue and explore the unique situation of each candidate company and consider qualitative investing aspects as well.

However, these screeners are a HUGE time saver.

We believe we have devised the most sophisticated screeners available free today on the web. The screeners contain:

  • The fs_score quality measure, as defined by Carlisle and Grey in “Quantitative Value.”
  • NCAV (or Adjusted Net ASsets) % of Market Value, as a measure of cheapness. The higher the figure, the lower the valuation.
  • NCAV (or Adjusted Net Assets) value % year-over-year, to determine the rate of asset burn.

Net Net Screener based on Net Cash Asset Value (NCAV)

Price and valuation multiples are updated in 20min delay.
Last update date – see rightmost column

The Terms in the table are defined in the Glossary.

Net Net Screener based on Ajusted Net Assets

Price and valuation multiples are updated in 20min delay.
Last update date – see rightmost column

The Terms in the table are defined in the Glossary.

How To Use The Screener:

The first screener is sorted for Net Cash Asset Value (NCAV) - The higher the better.
Net Current Asset Value = Current Assets – Total Liabilities – Preferred Equity.

The second screener is sorted for Adjusted Net Assets.
Adjusted Net Assets = Cash & Equivalents + 0.75*Receivables + 0.5*Inventory + 0.5*Fixed_Assets + 0.5*Other_Investments – all liabilities – preferred stocks

Net-nets are defined as stocks with NCAV (or Adjusted Net Assets) higher than the market value of a stock (i.e., market cap). Nevertheless, we list also stocks which are "near-net-nets" - those whose NCAV (or Adjusted Net Assets) is lower than the market value of the stocks but not by much. 

NCAV (% of MV) – Calculated as Net Current Asset Value / Market Cap. Net Current Asset Value = Current Assets – Total Liabilities – Preferred Equity.
NCAV % y-o–py – The % change in NCAV from the previous year to today.
Net Cash (% of MV) – Calculates Net Cash / Market Cap. Net Cash = Cash & Equivalents – Total Liabilities – Preferred Equity.

Use the Market Cap Slider to filter stocks based on your market cap preferences. For example, if you wish to avoid investing in too small stocks, slide the left end of the slider to the right. 

Learn More About Net-nets:

Read more about our net-nets screeners and their performance in our white paper: Spotlight on Net-nets. 

Also, check out Additional Resources from across the web: