Full disclosure: Dombey Capital is our own research service and our top pick here, for the reasons below. The section on where it falls short is there so you can judge whether it fits your process.
Quick comparison
| Tool | Best for | Key features | Price (as of October 2026) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dombey Daily Phoenix ScreenerTop pick | Curated special situations before a catalyst | Daily screener in the DombeyAI Portal, weekly Phoenix Report, Options Research, Catalyst Briefing, Earnings Conviction Model | Founding Membership $1,200/year; Standard Access $6.67/month (no screener); Public Archive free |
| Finviz | Fast US value screens with an earnings date | Price/Cash, Price/Book, Price/Sales and Earnings Date filters; Elite adds real-time data, 8 years of statements, alerts, export | Free; Elite $39.50/month or $299.50/year |
| Koyfin | Global screening and custom formulas | 5,900+ filter criteria, 100,000+ global securities, transcripts and filings on Plus, CSV download | Free; Plus $39/month billed annually ($49 monthly); Premium $79/month billed annually ($110 monthly); Advisor plans from $209/month billed annually |
| Stock Rover | Long history and historical screening | Up to 800+ metrics, up to 20 years of fundamentals, custom equations, ranked and historical screening, earnings calendar | Free plan; Premium $29/month or $348/year; Premium Plus $49/month or $588/year; Ultimate $79/month or $948/year; Ultimate Pro $149/month or $1,788/year |
| TradingView | Charting, alerts and multi-market scans | Stock screener with hundreds of filters, Pine Screener, 100+ fundamental metrics, cloud alerts | Basic free; Essential $14.95/month or $155.40/year; Plus $34.95/month or $359.40/year; Premium $69.95/month or $719.40/year; Ultimate $239.95/month or $2,399.40/year |
How we compared these tools
We compared these tools from vendor documentation, pricing pages and public product pages, read on October 5, 2026. We did not run trials of the paid plans, so this is a comparison of what each vendor says it offers, set against one job.
The job is narrow on purpose: finding stocks that look cheap on the balance sheet or on sales, and that have a dated event ahead, most often an earnings release. That breaks into five criteria.
- Below cash. Can you screen on a cash-based ratio, and can you adjust for debt to get closer to net cash per share?
- Below book. Is Price/Book a standard filter, and how far back does the book value history go? See price to book ratio explained for why history matters.
- Cheap on sales. Is Price/Sales or an enterprise-value-to-sales measure available?
- Dated catalyst. Can you filter on an upcoming earnings date, or at least see an earnings calendar beside the screen?
- Cost and friction. What does the plan you would actually need cost, and what do you lose on the free tier?
| Criterion | Weight | What it measures |
|---|---|---|
| Below cash | 20% | A cash-based ratio and a way to adjust for debt |
| Below book | 20% | Price/Book as a filter and the depth of book value history |
| Cheap on sales | 15% | Price/Sales or enterprise value to sales |
| Dated catalyst | 25% | An earnings date filter or a calendar beside the screen |
| Cost and friction | 20% | Price of the plan you need and limits on the free tier |
We gave no weight to claims about performance, returns or data accuracy, because no vendor publishes evidence we could check on those points, and we make no such claims here.
Quick picks by job
Best for curated special situations and dated catalysts: Dombey Daily Phoenix Screener
Dombey's Founding Membership includes the Daily Phoenix Screener in the DombeyAI Portal each trading morning, alongside the weekly Phoenix Report and Options Research. It is for readers who want a short list framed around special situations and their catalysts, not a tool to scan every listed stock.
Best free self-serve screen: Finviz
Finviz puts the three value ratios this job needs, Price/Cash, Price/Book and Price/Sales, on the same screen as an Earnings Date filter with options such as Next Week and This Month. The free tier is enough to build the screen. Elite adds real-time data, custom earnings date ranges, alerts and export for $299.50 a year.
Best for global coverage and custom ratios: Koyfin
Koyfin lists more than 5,900 filter criteria across more than 100,000 global securities. If your below-book or below-cash ideas include non-US listings, or you want to write your own net cash formula, Koyfin is the better base. Unlimited screens and 10 years of financials start on the Plus plan.
Best for long history and historical screening: Stock Rover
Stock Rover's higher plans carry up to 20 years of fundamentals and let you screen on historical data with custom equations. That suits the reader who wants to know whether a stock has traded below book for a decade or only since last quarter.
Best for charts and alerts: TradingView
TradingView is the strongest of the five for charting and alerts, with up to 16 charts per screen on its features page and cloud alerts that combine price, indicator and custom conditions. Use it to watch names you found elsewhere into an event.
Full reviews
1. Dombey Daily Phoenix Screener (Founding Membership)
What it does. The Daily Phoenix Screener is a daily research resource inside the DombeyAI Portal, published each trading morning. It gives visibility into situations relevant to Dombey's special-situations coverage between scheduled publications. It is not a self-serve screener of the whole market.
Best for. Readers who want curated special situations and dated catalysts with research attached, and who are comfortable with a narrow coverage list.
Pricing. The screener comes only with Founding Membership at $1,200 a year. That plan also includes the weekly Phoenix Report, weekly Options Research, the Biweekly Catalyst Briefing, the Earnings Conviction Model, valuation and execution analysis, and priority access. Standard Access, the lower-cost option at $6.67 a month, includes the Biweekly Catalyst Briefing and the complete public-research archive, but not the screener. The Public Archive is free.
Pros
- It is built around the exact job in this article: special situations and dated catalysts, rather than general market scanning.
- It sits next to written research and an options report, which helps with the step after the screen: estimating an earnings move from options.
- Theses are published before the catalyst and kept in the archive, so you can compare the original case with what happened.
Cons
- It covers far fewer names than any general screener.
- It costs more than the entry plans of every other tool here.
Verdict: Our top pick for readers who want curated special situations with research attached. Keep a general screener for full-market scans.
2. Finviz
What it does. Finviz is a web-based stock screener and market data site focused on US equities. Its screener has descriptive, fundamental, technical, news and ETF filter groups.
Best for. Readers who want a fast, free way to combine a cheap balance sheet with an upcoming earnings date.
Pricing. The free tier costs nothing. Finviz Elite is listed at $39.50 a month or $299.50 a year, and a free trial converts to a paid plan unless cancelled.
Pros
- A Price/Cash filter, the closest any of the four general screeners comes to a one-click below-cash screen, plus Price/Book and Price/Sales.
- An Earnings Date filter with Today, Tomorrow, This Week, Next Week and This Month, split into before market open and after market close for the near dates. A custom range is Elite only.
- Filters for Market Cap, Float, Insider Ownership, Current Ratio and Debt/Equity, which help remove obvious traps.
- Elite adds real-time quotes including premarket and after-hours, 8 years of financial statements, unlimited email and push alerts, and Excel or CSV export.
Cons
- Price/Cash uses cash, not net cash, so a heavily indebted company can pass the screen.
- Free data is delayed and statements cover 3 years.
- Coverage is centered on US listings, so global value ideas need another tool.
Verdict: The best free self-serve screen for US stocks that look cheap ahead of an earnings date.
3. Stock Rover
What it does. Stock Rover is a research and portfolio platform built around fundamental data, with stock and ETF screening, ranked screening, screening on historical data and screening with custom equations. It also has an earnings calendar.
Best for. Readers who want deep history and the ability to test whether a stock's discount to book or cash is new or long-standing.
Pricing. A free plan is aimed at basic research on individual stocks. Paid plans are Premium at $29 a month or $348 a year, Premium Plus at $49 a month or $588 a year, Ultimate at $79 a month or $948 a year, and Ultimate Pro at $149 a month or $1,788 a year. Two-year billing is cheaper, and each paid plan has a 14-day free trial.
Pros
- Custom equations let you build a debt-adjusted cash ratio rather than accept a gross cash figure.
- Historical screening and up to 20 years of fundamentals on Ultimate show how long a discount has lasted.
- Metrics scale from 400+ on Premium to 800+ on Ultimate, and research reports covering 7,000+ stocks start on Premium Plus.
- The earnings calendar sits inside the same product as the screen.
Cons
- Longer history and more screens sit on the higher plans; Premium carries 5 years of fundamentals and 15 screeners.
- The vendor pages we read do not list an earnings-date screening filter by name, so you may need to pair the screen with the calendar.
Verdict: The upgrade for readers who want to know how long a stock has been cheap.
4. Koyfin
What it does. Koyfin is a market data and analytics platform with an equity screener, dashboards, charting, analyst estimates and searchable earnings call transcripts.
Best for. Readers whose ideas cross borders, and readers who want transcripts and filings next to the screen.
Pricing. Free is $0. On annual billing, Plus is $39 a month and Premium is $79 a month; on monthly billing they are $49 and $110. Advisor Core is $209 a month and Advisor Pro is $299 a month on annual billing. Koyfin says annual billing saves up to 30%.
Pros
- More than 5,900 filter criteria and more than 100,000 global securities, the widest stated universe of the five.
- Plus includes 10 years of financials and estimates, unlimited watchlists and screens, and press releases, filings and transcripts.
- Premium adds unlimited custom formulas, which is how you would compute net cash per share across a screen.
- Screen results can be saved to watchlists or downloaded as CSV.
Cons
- The free plan allows only 2 screens, 2 watchlists and 2 years of financials, which is tight for this work.
- The vendor pages we read do not name an earnings-date screening filter or list individual valuation fields, so confirm the fields you need exist before paying.
Verdict: The better base when your ideas cross borders or you want to write your own net cash formula.
5. TradingView
What it does. TradingView is a charting, social and market data platform. Its stock screener finds world stocks by hundreds of filters, from dividend yield and financial multiples to performance and technicals. The Pine Screener scans assets with your own scripts.
Best for. Readers who already have a watchlist and want charts and alerts around an event.
Pricing. Basic is free. On monthly billing, Essential is $14.95, Plus $34.95, Premium $69.95 and Ultimate $239.95 a month. On annual billing the totals are $155.40, $359.40, $719.40 and $2,399.40 a year. Prices are as shown on the pricing page on October 5, 2026, which labels some of them as special prices.
Pros
- Global coverage and hundreds of screener filters, plus 100+ fundamental metrics and full financial statements.
- Cloud alerts that combine price, drawings, indicators, chart values and custom logic, with 20 to 1,000 active price alerts depending on plan.
- AI screener requests from 100 on Essential to 500 on Ultimate, and an earnings calendar for tracking report dates.
Cons
- The product is centered on price and charts, so balance-sheet value screens are less direct than on Finviz.
- The free Basic plan allows 3 price alerts and 2 indicators per chart.
Verdict: The tool for watching names you found elsewhere into an event, not for finding them.
Where Dombey falls short
The same standard applies to our own product, and it has clear limits for this job.
- Narrow coverage. The Daily Phoenix Screener reflects Dombey's special-situations coverage. It will miss most cheap stocks that a full-market screen would find.
- No broad data terminal. There is no general charting, global fundamentals database or custom formula builder. Most members will still want one of the other four tools.
- Price. At $1,200 a year, Founding Membership costs more than Finviz Elite, Stock Rover Premium or Koyfin Plus on annual billing.
- Small team. The research comes from a small team, which limits how many situations it can follow at once.
- Pen-name author. Research is published under the name James Whitfield, a pen name. Readers who weigh an analyst's public track record cannot look one up.
- Short history. The archive is young. There is less record to judge than a long-running research service would have.
Free vs paid
Every tool here except the Dombey screener has a free tier, and for this job the free tiers go further than you might expect.
| Tool | What the free tier gives you for this job | What paying adds |
|---|---|---|
| Finviz | Price/Cash, Price/Book, Price/Sales, Earnings Date presets, delayed data, 3 years of statements | Real-time data, custom earnings range, 8 years of statements, alerts, export |
| Koyfin | 2 screens, 2 watchlists, 2 years of financials | Unlimited screens, 10 years of financials, filings and transcripts, custom formulas on Premium |
| Stock Rover | Basic research on individual stocks | Full screening, up to 800+ metrics, up to 20 years of fundamentals, historical screening |
| TradingView | Basic plan with 2 indicators per chart and 3 price alerts | More alerts, more indicators, AI screener requests, more data subscriptions |
| Dombey | Public Archive of published research | Founding Membership adds the Daily Phoenix Screener and models; Standard Access, the lower-cost option, adds the Catalyst Briefing |
A practical free setup is Finviz for the first cut and SEC EDGAR for the filings. Our guide on how to find stocks trading below net cash walks through that process step by step.
How to choose
Start with the job, not the tool.
| Your situation | Pick | Add later when |
|---|---|---|
| You want curated special situations with research attached | Dombey Daily Phoenix ScreenerTop pick | You want full-market scans: add Finviz |
| You want one free screen today | Finviz | You need export and alerts: move to Finviz Elite |
| Your ideas are outside the US | Koyfin | You need custom formulas: move to Koyfin Premium |
| You care how long a stock has been cheap | Stock Rover | You want charts and alerts into the event: add TradingView |
| You already have names and need alerts | TradingView | You want dated catalyst research: add Dombey |
- If you want one free screen today, use Finviz. Set Price/Cash or Price/Book low, set Earnings Date to Next Week, and read the results.
- If your ideas are outside the US, choose Koyfin, and plan for the Plus plan if you need more than 2 screens.
- If you care how long a stock has been cheap, choose Stock Rover and look at the plan with the history depth you need.
- If you already have names and need alerts into the event, add TradingView.
- If you want the research done and accept a narrow list, choose Dombey's Founding Membership.
Whatever you use, the screen is only the first step. A stock below cash can be burning that cash. A stock below book can carry assets worth less than their stated value. Before you trust a hit, read the latest quarterly filing; our guide on how to read a 10-Q for special situations lists what to check.
Where this goes wrong
Screeners share three weaknesses for this job.
- Stale balance sheets. Screen data comes from the last reported quarter. A company can draw on a credit line, burn cash or issue shares after quarter end, and the screen will not show it until the next filing.
- Gross versus net. Price/Cash ignores debt and leases. A worked example, with illustrative numbers for a hypothetical Company A: a $10 stock with $12 of cash per share passes a Price/Cash below 1 screen. If it also has $9 of debt per share, net cash is $3 a share and the stock trades at more than three times net cash.
- Dates move. Earnings dates in screeners are often estimates until the company confirms them. Check the investor relations page or a press release before treating a date as fixed.
The bottom line
Dombey's Daily Phoenix Screener is our top pick for readers who want curated special situations and event-driven research before a catalyst, and who accept a narrow list at a higher price. For a self-serve screen, Finviz is the best free start, because it joins Price/Cash, Price/Book, Price/Sales and an earnings date in one place. Koyfin and Stock Rover are the upgrade when you need custom formulas, global coverage or long history, and TradingView is the tool for charts and alerts once you have names. None of these tools replaces reading the filings before the catalyst.