Hunting breakout candidates: accelerating earnings growth confirmed by price strength near the 52-week high, automated across the entire market.
Save the strategy and StockScorer checks its rules for you every day. You'll get a heads-up whenever a stock crosses the upper or lower score threshold.
MSCI World over the same period: +240.1 %
Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results.
| Score | Number of stocks |
|---|---|
| -2 | 3,376 |
| -1 | 2,318 |
| 0 | 2,937 |
| +1 | 3,257 |
| +2 | 2,442 |
| +3 | 1,277 |
| +4 | 529 |
| +5 | 115 |
| +6 | 14 |
Every stock runs through the same disclosed rules. The points add up to a score, traceable down to the individual rule.
Each rule checks a metric against a threshold, for example ROE above 15 %.
You decide how much each rule counts: from +1 to +3 or −1 to −3.
The sum is the score. That gives three classes: high, medium, low match.
These terms describe only the match with the criteria, not a recommendation to buy or sell.
The latest quarter must be more than 25% above the prior-year quarter: growth now, not someday.
The multi-year earnings trend (3-year CAGR above 25%) plus a return on equity of at least 17% separates flashes in the pan from real growth machines.
A price near the 52-week high and 12-month relative strength above +15% show institutional money moving in.
Rising prices on rising volume, otherwise the breakout lacks conviction.
These exact rules run over every stock daily.
After a free sign-up: the full profile in the rule editor to copy, adjust thresholds and save as your own starting profile.
See & copy all rulesThe backtest shows a total return of +249.6%. The MSCI World reaches +240.1% over the same period.
Survivorship-free since June 30, 2015: the index composition is applied point-in-time.
Historical period, quarterly rebalancing, no taxes or fees. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results.
Purely mechanical rule application, no curated-list effect: stocks with a high match can fall just like any other stock.
For aggressive investors with high volatility tolerance and the discipline to cut losers quickly. Momentum strategies live on rigorous risk management: the deduction for prices deep below the 52-week high is the built-in ripcord.
Growth Momentum looks for the most dynamic stocks in the market just before or during their breakout. The model is William O'Neil's CAN SLIM system, based on a study of the strongest price winners across several decades: explosive earnings growth in the latest quarter (C) and over years (A), plus a high return on equity as the second A condition, a price near the 52-week high (N), rising trading volume (S) and market leadership in relative strength (L). The approach deliberately runs contrary to value investing: the focus is on strength in the expectation that trends continue, not weakness in hope of a recovery. O'Neil explicitly favours young, smaller growth companies; StockScorer reflects that with a priority for small caps.
Six criteria earn one point each: quarterly earnings growth above 25% versus the prior-year quarter (C), annual earnings growth above 25% per year over a 3-year window plus a return on equity of at least 17% (A, two criteria), a price at most 10% below the 52-week high (N, O'Neil's own tolerance), a volume increase of at least 25% versus the prior period with a positive price (S) and a 12-month relative strength of more than +15% versus the market (L, as a proxy for O'Neil's RS rating of 80 or above). If a stock trades more than 30% below its 52-week high, that costs 2 points, a StockScorer construction with no counterpart in the original (O'Neil's own risk rule there is a 7 to 8% stop-loss on the individual position).
The upper threshold is a uniform 5 points across all size classes, with priority given to small caps: O'Neil does not tier by size but explicitly favours young, small growth companies. Out of six possible points, five are needed, effectively all criteria at once. That is intentional: the most explosive breakouts happen in smaller names, but that is also where the noise is loudest.
C: Current earnings, earnings growth in the latest quarter > 25% YoY (+1).
A: Annual earnings, earnings growth over 3 years > 25% p.a. (+1) AND return on equity ≥ 17% (+1, O'Neil's second A condition).
N: New highs, price at most 10% below the 52-week high (+1).
S: Supply & demand, volume at least 25% above the prior period with a positive price (+1).
L: Leader, 12-month relative strength > +15% versus the market (+1). Price > 30% below the high: −2.
Annual growth (A) follows the original: it is measured via the 3-year CAGR, because CAN-SLIM looks for the current growth phase, not a five-year smoothed average. Since the 23 August 2026 fidelity round, a return on equity of at least 17% adds O'Neil's second A condition, the N tolerance follows the original at 10%, and the S criterion now requires a concrete volume increase of 25% (O'Neil cites 40 to 50% above average on the breakout day itself, softened here via a 3-month comparison).
Documented deviations: market leadership is measured via 12-month relative strength as a proxy for O'Neil's RS rating (percentile of 80 or above). The original criteria I (institutional buyers) and M (market direction) are dropped for lack of data; they are qualitative judgments that cannot be derived from metrics. The 30% deduction is a StockScorer construction with no original counterpart, O'Neil's own risk management is a hard 7 to 8% stop-loss at the position level, something a scoring system cannot structurally replicate.
In the backtest, the quarterly-earnings and volume criteria are neutralised for lack of historical data points; 52-week high, relative strength and long-term growth are reconstructed historically. The rule-coverage panel in the backtest scales the thresholds proportionally and discloses this transparently.
For trend-oriented investors who accept shorter holding periods and manage positions rigorously by score: momentum rewards discipline, not patience.