Using a combination of fundamental and technical investing techniques, William O’Neil founded a company called Investor’s Business Daily (IBD). In order to summarize this strategy, Mr. O’Neil coined the acronym CANSLIM to describe his unique approach to investing.
CANSLIM does not rely on opinions or predictions; rather, it relies on actual market actions. Using a real-time study of performance, the American Association of Individual Investors found that CANSLIM generated a 2,487% gain from January 1998 to December 2010.
Each letter in the word CANSLIM represents particular criteria that Mr. O’Neil uses as a filter when investing in stocks (equities).
C = Current Quarterly Earnings Per Share // Current quarterly earnings per share is a company’s “after tax” profit divided by the number of outstanding common shares. You’ll want to find stocks with “accelerating” growth in earnings per share over the previous 10 quarters. On the flip side, two quarters of decelerating growth in earnings per share is a sell sign.
For CANSLIM, a company’s current quarter’s EPS should be at least 18%-20% higher than the same quarter last year (for example, 3rd Quarter of 2012 verses the 3rd Quarter of 2011). If you have too many stocks on your watch list, try using 25%-30% increases as the cut-off. And when you find stocks with EPS increases 70% or more, you’ve hit the jackpot…this level is historically associated with HUGE price gains.
A = Annual EPS // Annual EPS should show healthy growth during the previous 5 years. According to CANSLIM, “healthy” requires a minimum of 25%-50%, year over year.
N = New Organizations // Try to find companies that are “new”; new products, new services, new management teams, new strategies, new tactics…even new locations.
S = Supply and Demand for Shares // The number of outstanding shares should be small (i.e. small capitalization stocks). Older, large capitalization companies do not perform as well as small capitalization companies during bull markets. Secondly, the number of shares traded per day/week (i.e. volume) should increase as the stock moves up in price.
L = Leadership // You want to invest money in companies that are going somewhere…the best of the best. Stocks are considered leaders when they lead the market higher (when the market increases, these stocks are bought in large quantities). Stocks can be considered laggards when they don’t join market rallies or are bought in small quantities.
From a technical perspective, leading stocks tend to follow a particular price pattern before reaching new price highs. These patterns, or “bases”, usually last between 7-8 weeks, but can take up to 15 months. The “base building” time is necessary to weed out sellers (people who have been holding the stock since the last 52 week high, waiting to recoup their losses). Once this type of investor is gone, the stock can climb higher.
Another way to search for leadership is using the “relative price strength” or “RS” for a stock. This refers to an individual stock’s performance verses the general market. At 70 or higher, the stock is considered a leader.
I = Institutional Sponsorship // Institutions are the “bulk buyers” of the investment world. You want to find stocks that have just the right amount of ownership. Too much and you’ve likely missed the boat on explosive growth. Too few and you may have to wait a while. Look for 3-10 high quality sponsors.
M = Market Conditions // CANSLIM relies on the premise that you cannot fight the market. According to IBD, 3 out of every 4 stocks will follow the general market up or down. And growth stocks usually outperform the market by a factor of 1.5 - 2.5…this leads to large gains, but can also result in large losses if you’re not careful.
Checking the general market indexes (DJIA, NASD, SP&500, NYSE, etc.) is a quick and easy way to keep your finger on the pulse of Wall Street. IBD also showcases the action of market leaders in their “Big Picture” column, which can help you spot changes in the current market conditions.