Finding good dividend-paying stocks is not as simple as it’s made out to be these days by online platforms & influencers just looking at companies offering the highest dividend yield. For instance, a company which offers 8% dividend yield may look attractive, but there could be underlying reasons why its share price has fallen or why its dividend may not be sustainable over a long time.
Stock screeners are quite popular among people investing in stocks. Instead of manually checking hundreds of listed companies, you can apply a few filters and narrow down your search for the desired stocks as per your requirements.
In this article, we will look at the Investing.com Stock Screener, its features, how Indian investors can use it to identify potential dividend-paying stocks and whether it is worth using.
What is Investing.com Stock Screener?
Investing.com Stock Screener is an online research tool that allows investors to filter listed companies based on different financial and market-related parameters. You can search for companies based on market capitalisation, dividend yield, P/E ratio, profitability, growth, valuation and several other metrics.
The interesting part is that you do not necessarily need to build your own screening strategy. Investing.com also offers predefined screens based on different investment strategies.
For example, if you are interested in dividend-paying companies, you can explore its dividend-focused screens instead of manually selecting every parameter & building your screeners yourself.
Avail Investing.com Black Friday OfferWhat Makes Investing.com Stock Screener Different?
There are several stock screening platforms popular among Indian investors like Screener.in, Tickertape, Trendlyne and Chartink. However, Investing.com also combines market performance, technical indicators and predefined investment strategies. This makes it useful for investors who want to explore companies from different perspectives.
Another advantage is that Investing.com covers international markets. This is important as international investing has started picking up in India & is expected to rise further as the top brokers in India get into this segment. If you track both Indian and overseas stocks, you can use one single screener for your initial researc & filtering.
The platform also offers stock market news, economic calendars, financial statements and other resources, making it more than just a stock filtering tool.
Dividend Stock Screens on Investing.com
One of the more interesting features of Investing.com is its predefined stock screens. These are essentially ready-made combinations of filters that help investors discover companies matching particular investment strategies.
Following are some dividend-focused screens on Investing.com which are worth exploring for Indian equities:
- Dividend Focused
This screener helps identify companies with a long history of consistent dividend payments. It can be useful for investors looking for established businesses that have regularly rewarded shareholders through dividends.
- Dividend Delights
This strategy focuses on high-yield dividend stocks with sustainable payout ratios and consistent dividend growth. It is a useful starting point for investors looking for a combination of regular income and dividend growth.
- Dividend Delights with Safety Net
This screener takes a more cautious approach by looking for high-yield dividend stocks with sustainable payout ratios and profitability. The additional profitability criteria can help investors narrow down companies that may have better financial support for their dividend payments.
- High Yield Dividend Stocks
As the name suggests, this strategy identifies stocks offering dividend yields above 5%. It is particularly useful for investors who prioritise dividend income. However, a high dividend yield should not be the only selection criterion, as it can sometimes result from a falling share price.
- Dividend Growth Champs
This strategy identifies companies with a reliable history of dividend growth and strong dividend coverage. It can be useful for long-term investors who prefer companies that consistently increase their dividend payouts rather than simply offering a high current yield.
- Going Ex-Dividend
This screener helps identify stocks approaching their ex-dividend dates. Investors can use it to find companies with upcoming dividend-related dates.
Is Investing.com Stock Screener Free?
Investing.com provides access to its stock screener without requiring users to purchase an InvestingPro subscription.
The basic screening functionality is sufficient for getting started with common filters such as dividend yield, market capitalisation and valuation ratios. However, advanced research features and financial metrics may be restricted to premium subscribers.
If you are only looking to shortlist companies for further research, the basic screener can be a good starting point. You can always explore the premium offering if you need additional features.
Investing.com Black Friday Offer
Investing.com is currently running an Early Bird Black Friday offer wherein you can get 50% off on 1 year subscription & 55% off on 2 year subscription. This is a steal deal especially if you are already using Investing.com and have been thinking of going with their paid plans.
Avail Investing.com Black Friday OfferLimitations of Investing.com Stock Screener
While the platform is useful, there are a few limitations worth keeping in mind.
- The platform is heavily placed with multiple advertisements- both on screen & popups, etc. This hampers smooth user browsing especially if a non signed in/guest user.
- Some features are paid: Investors looking for advanced financial analysis may need to explore InvestingPro or other research platforms.
- Financial data may not always be up to date: Always verify important financial figures using company annual reports and the latest NSE or BSE filings.
- Screening results are not investment recommendations: A company matching all your filters does not automatically make it a good investment.
- Dividend sustainability is difficult to assess: A stock screener cannot fully evaluate the quality of a company’s business, management decisions or future cash flow requirements.
For these reasons, I would use Investing.com primarily as a discovery and shortlisting tool rather than relying on it for the final investment decision.
Conclusion
Investing.com Stock Screener is a research tool which is for sure to be tried by Indian investors. The predefined investment screens, extensive range of filters and coverage of international markets make it worth exploring, particularly if you enjoy discovering companies using different financial parameters.
However, if you are looking solely at buying dividend paying companies, do not get carried away by high dividend yields or attractive screening results. A sustainable dividend backed by a healthy business is more important than a one time unusually high payout.
Use the screener for the first level of research- to discover opportunities, shortlist companies and identify interesting businesses. The actual investment decision should always involve a deeper look at the company’s financials, business model, valuations, etc.
