Choose which US stock deserves a closer look
A financial filter can help decide where to spend your next research session. It cannot explain why a company grew, whether its earnings will persist, or whether its shares suit your investment plan. In ThesisMemo, Discover gives you a small starting set, three financial conditions and direct routes into company research. The useful output is a shortlist with a question beside each name.
This guide walks through selecting that starting set, applying one condition, checking what disappeared and opening the surviving companies for further investigation. Keep a short record in your own document as you work. Discover does not save the screening notes described here or automatically turn a financial match into a recommended investment.
Open Discover and establish your starting set
Sign in and select Discover in the workspace sidebar. The page heading is Discover companies. Discover is included in ThesisMemo membership; follow any access message shown for your account. The three public company previews do not mean every workspace tool is available without membership. Check Pricing if you need to understand your access before starting.
Begin with a sector tab, such as Information Technology. Sector browsing uses six curated examples per sector, not a complete list of US stocks in that industry. Read the coverage note below the filters before treating the visible cards as a universe. Write the sector and the tickers shown in your external record so that you know what your subsequent screen actually considered.
Alternatively, enter a name or ticker in Company or ticker. This searches the supported directory, with financial conditions applied to the first twenty matching companies. A broad word can therefore produce a limited candidate set. For a specific company, use its exact ticker and confirm the displayed company name. Do not interpret the first matches as a ranking by quality, market capitalization or expected return.
Use one financial condition for one research question
The Financial filter menu offers All available companies, Positive revenue growth · TTM, Positive net margin · TTM, and P/E between 0 and 25 · TTM. Choose a condition and press Apply →. The menu selects one condition at a time. It is not a multi-factor builder that combines every visible option into a single saved strategy.
For a question about expanding sales, start with Positive revenue growth · TTM. For a question about businesses reporting positive profitability, use Positive net margin · TTM. The P/E option provides a fixed range for a valuation-related starting point; it does not establish that a company is cheap. Decide what the condition helps you investigate before choosing it.
If you want to examine growth and profitability together, first record the growth matches, then change the menu to the margin condition and compare the names manually. That intersection belongs in your own notes. Preserve the same starting set and recheck it after navigation, rather than assuming that an earlier filter or search remains applied when you change sector tabs.
Audit exclusions before trusting a small result set
A company missing the selected metric is excluded from filtered results. That makes the unfiltered view important. Before deciding that an absent company failed your financial condition, switch back to All available companies and press Apply →. Locate its card, confirm the ticker and inspect the relevant field. A dash is missing information, not a zero or a negative result.
Separate three possibilities in your record: the company was outside the starting set, it had no available metric, or its available value did not meet the selected condition. These require different next steps. Search directly for an out-of-set name, investigate a missing measure through original disclosures, and reserve judgment about a numeric exclusion until you have checked its period and meaning.
If the page says No matching companies, clear the financial filter or try a more specific company search. An empty result does not establish that an entire US sector lacks growth or profits. The scope and missing-data rules still apply. Avoid repeatedly loosening conditions until a preferred stock appears; record why you changed the question instead.
Read the card’s financial period before comparing names
Each card shows Revenue growth · TTM YoY, Net margin · TTM and P/E · TTM. Beneath those fields, look for Revenue / margin: TTM ended followed by a date. That date is the financial-period endpoint for those measures, not a statement that every number on the card was refreshed at that moment. If the card says Revenue / margin pending verification, retain that uncertainty.
Two cards can have different period endpoints because companies use different fiscal calendars or available disclosures cover different dates. Record those endpoints beside the metrics you plan to investigate. A trailing period also smooths together several quarters: a positive trailing growth figure does not show that the most recent quarter accelerated, and a positive trailing margin does not settle next quarter’s outlook.
The page describes P/E as a USD quote divided by four reported quarterly GAAP diluted EPS figures, including one-off items. That basis matters when you open another source using adjusted or forward earnings. Keep the comparison question separate from the filter. A low multiple could prompt investigation of earnings durability; the filter itself has not performed that investigation for you.
Turn a match into a source-reading task
Choose View research → on a candidate’s card. On an accessible company page, inspect Current key factors and their review date, then use Filings & news to locate relevant evidence. Follow the original source links. If the assessment is unavailable or the timeline does not contain the disclosure you need, use the company’s investor-relations site or SEC filings directly as an external manual step.
For a growth match, your next question might be whether management attributes the change to unit demand, pricing, acquisitions or another factor. For a margin match, you might investigate a large unusual gain or a change in operating costs. These are possible questions, not descriptions of any company’s current results. Pick the question that connects the screen to a business you can explain.
The SEC’s guide to reading a 10-K identifies Business, Risk Factors, Management’s Discussion and Analysis, and financial statements as distinct parts of the annual report. Use the section relevant to your question, and check newer quarterly disclosures when needed. Record the source URL, reporting period and unresolved issue. A metric match becomes useful when it leads to a bounded evidence task.
Work through a hypothetical screening result
Imagine three fictional US-listed companies in your starting set: Cedar, Harbor and Summit. Cedar has positive trailing revenue growth, Harbor has negative growth, and Summit’s growth field is missing. Under a positive-growth condition, Cedar remains while Harbor and Summit disappear. These invented entries illustrate the workflow; they are not actual ThesisMemo cards or current financial data.
Return to the unfiltered view before rejecting both absent names for the same reason. Harbor has a numeric result to investigate. Summit has an information gap. In your external record, mark Cedar for a growth-driver review, Harbor for a possible turnaround question if that fits your research objective, and Summit for source verification. You do not need to research all three immediately.
Now suppose Cedar’s trailing period ends earlier than another candidate’s. Keep both dates visible and open the relevant disclosures before claiming one business is currently growing faster. Your finished shortlist might contain only Cedar plus a specific unanswered question. That is a useful outcome even though the screen produced no comprehensive ranking or investment conclusion.
Follow the company only when you have a reason to return
If you want to continue tracking a candidate, use + Add to watchlist on its Discover card. Wait for confirmation. A saved company shows ✓ In watchlist and a View Dashboard → link. If saving fails or an access message appears, resolve that state before assuming the company has been added. The research workflow should not depend on an unconfirmed action.
Keep the reason for following the stock in your own notes: starting set, chosen condition, financial period, source to inspect and the result that would make you reconsider. Revisit those notes after the next relevant disclosure. The aim is to reduce an open-ended company search to a few answerable questions while preserving the limitations of the screen that produced them.
Sources and product references
Questions & answers
Is Discover a complete US stock screener?
No. Sector tabs use six curated examples per sector. Company search uses the supported directory, and financial filters apply to the first twenty matches. Record your starting set before interpreting either matches or exclusions.
Can I combine growth, margin and P/E filters?
The verified menu applies one financial condition at a time. You can compare separate results manually in your own document while keeping the same starting set. This guide does not assume saved multi-factor screens or automatic intersections.
Does a company disappearing mean its growth is negative?
Not necessarily. Missing selected metrics are excluded too, and the company may be outside the current starting set. Return to All available companies, confirm its identity and inspect the relevant field before deciding why it disappeared.
Does a P/E below 25 mean a stock is undervalued?
No. The range is a screening condition. The displayed basis uses reported GAAP earnings and can include one-off items. Investigate the business, earnings durability and comparable periods before making any valuation judgment.
Where are my screening notes saved?
Keep the notes in your own document. The verified product action saves a company to your Watchlist and makes it available on the Dashboard; it does not save the screening worksheet or the research rationale described in this guide.