Selecting stocks and building portfolios: a sorting exercise

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of paper is to provide students with a sorting methodology to select securities and build portfolios.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper uses various accounting variables for all firms in the S&P 500, sorted by sector. The fundamental metrics are converted into standardized Z‐scores and then combined into a single score used to rank individual firms within each industry. Equity portfolios are then constructed using the aggregate Z‐scores.

Findings

In the authors' experience with student‐managed investment funds (SMIFs), students at the start of the course consistently ask how to begin selecting securities or seek to learn a new model for selecting securities. Discussions on stock selection are helpful to engage students in this area, but an attempt is made to further this by providing a comprehensive stock‐selection exercise to help students better understand how to appropriately pick stocks and create a portfolio.

Practical implications

In this exercise, students are reminded of the limitations surrounding the stock‐screening process and are provided with an alternative, more robust method for selecting securities that is commonly utilized by investment professionals. While the exercise described in this paper is done in reference to SMIFs, it is equally applicable to standard investment courses.

Originality/value

This paper provides an exercise which provides students a way to dive deeper into stock selection through stock sorting. Stock selection is typically a hot topic for most students in finance courses. Stock screens may permit a search on multiple variables simultaneously but typically do not allow for applying specific weights to each metric. A sorting method, avoids these issues by permitting the user to create custom variables, affords the opportunity to view all of the variables used in the screening process simultaneously, and includes the option to apply specific weights to each variable.

Citation

Donaldson, J., Flagg, D. and Hunter Orr, J. (2011), "Selecting stocks and building portfolios: a sorting exercise", Managerial Finance, Vol. 37 No. 7, pp. 636-646. https://doi.org/10.1108/03074351111140270