Charts and graphs are considered stock market tools.
Thousands of stocks trade on the U.S. stock market, making it difficult for some investors to locate companies that fit their tolerance for risk. Luckily, stock screening tools can help narrow the search.
Identification
Stock-screening tools are online assistants available on many financial websites and are widely available for free. In seconds, these tools produce a list of companies that fit an investor's profile.
Function
By entering certain criteria into blank fields, investors define search parameters. The stock screening tool in turn produces a list of companies that meet those predefined characteristics.
Features
Users enter data such as a stock price, industry or dividend history into the appropriate fields. The list comes back with company names, the corresponding ticker symbol, the appropriate stock exchange and more. Google Finance allows users to rely on a default set of search criteria or to establish their own parameters.
Risks
There are no guarantees in investing. As MotleyFool.com points out, individual stocks can soar 25 percent or more in a short period of time but conversely can lose that ground just as swiftly.
Considerations
Avoid keeping search criteria too narrow, which can produce a truncated list with only a few companies. Even if stocks fail to meet an investor's exact profile, a stock might be worth keeping on the radar screen as a potential investment for a future date.
