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William O'Neil

CAN SLIM Growth Screen

Scan 5,000+ stocks daily with William O'Neil's 7-factor CAN SLIM methodology. Earnings, new highs, institutional demand all scored. Each setup graded A+ to B.

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What is this pattern?

CAN SLIM is William O'Neil's comprehensive methodology for identifying winning growth stocks, distilled from his study of every market-leading stock from 1880 to the present day. Each letter represents a key factor: Current quarterly earnings, Annual earnings growth, New highs/products/management, Supply and demand, Leader or laggard, Institutional sponsorship, and Market direction.

The genius of CAN SLIM is that it combines fundamental and technical analysis into a single integrated system. The C and A factors ensure the company has genuine, accelerating earnings power — not just a cheap stock price. The N factor captures the catalyst — a new product, new management, or price reaching new highs. The S and L factors use technical tools (volume analysis and relative strength) to identify institutional demand and market leadership. And the M factor provides the critical market context that determines whether any individual stock has the wind at its back.

O'Neil's research showed that virtually every great stock of the past century displayed most or all of the CAN SLIM characteristics before its biggest advance. By screening for all seven factors simultaneously, the scanner identifies the stocks with the greatest probability of significant outperformance. The system is not a guarantee — but it stacks the odds heavily in the trader's favor by focusing capital on the strongest companies in the strongest sectors during favorable market conditions.

Origin & History

Created by William O'Neil and published in How to Make Money in Stocks, first edition 1988, with subsequent editions through 2009. O'Neil developed the system by studying every stock that achieved the greatest price advances from 1880 to the present — a database of over 1,000 winning stocks spanning more than a century. CAN SLIM became the foundation for Investor's Business Daily (IBD), which O'Neil founded in 1984, and has influenced generations of growth stock investors.

Detection Criteria

Our scanner evaluates the following criteria when detecting CAN SLIM Growth Screen setups across 5,000+ stocks daily.

Current quarterly earnings acceleration
Accelerating quarterly EPS growth (each quarter faster than the last) indicates a business in an expansion phase with improving fundamentals.
Annual earnings growth consistency
Consistent annual growth of 25%+ over 3-5 years proves the business model is durable and the growth is not a one-time event.
New 52-week high proximity
O'Neil's research showed that the best stocks are near new highs when they begin their biggest advances. Counterintuitively, new highs beget new highs.
Volume and institutional demand
Increasing volume on advances and declining volume on pullbacks reveals institutional accumulation — the most important supply/demand signal.
Relative strength vs market
A relative strength rating in the top 20% confirms the stock is a market leader, not a laggard. O'Neil found that 95% of winning stocks had RS ratings above 80 before their major moves.

Grading Breakdown

For CAN SLIM setups, an A+ grade means strong scores across all 7 factors with accelerating quarterly earnings, consistent annual growth, price near new highs, and leadership relative strength. This is not a prediction of future price movement — it is a way to prioritize which charts deserve your attention first.

A+
Textbook setup — strong confluence across all criteria. Highest conviction.
A
High-quality setup worth watching closely. Minor criteria may be slightly off.
B+
Decent setup with some reservations. One or two criteria fall short of ideal.
B
Pattern detected but lower conviction. Use as a watchlist candidate, not a trade trigger.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Buying CAN SLIM stocks in a confirmed market downtrend — the M (Market Direction) is the most important factor; even the best stocks struggle in bear markets
Over-weighting one factor while ignoring others — a stock with explosive earnings but terrible relative strength, or high RS but decelerating earnings, is an incomplete setup
Chasing extended stocks — CAN SLIM stocks should be bought at proper buy points (bases, pivots), not after they've already advanced 15-20% above the ideal entry

How to Trade This Pattern

Entry

Buy at the proper buy point — the breakout from a base (cup-handle, flat base, double bottom) with volume at least 40-50% above average. The stock must show strong C, A, and L factors.

Stop Loss

Cut losses at 7-8% below the buy point — no exceptions. O'Neil's research showed that the best stocks rarely pull back more than 7-8% from a proper buy point if the breakout is genuine.

Price Target

Hold through the advance using the 10-week MA as a trailing stop. Take profits on the way up at 20-25% gains unless the stock is acting exceptionally. Sell on climax top signals.

This is educational content only. Not financial advice. Always do your own research and manage risk appropriately.

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AskLivermore scans 5,000+ NASDAQ and NYSE stocks daily · Not financial advice · Past performance does not guarantee future results