Where do I get investment ideas?

1) I get them from articles I read.? I print them out and put them in a stack, and then I wait.

2) I get them from my industry ranks and Value Line.? I use Value Line’s screener to screen for my favored industries, subject to a financial stability limit and minimum expected returns.? Then I wait.

3) I look through the 13Fs of 77 clever investors every quarter.? I look at all of the new names that none of them have owned in the prior quarter.? I look at all of the companies that my clever investors own 5% of, which they have added 2% of the market cap to their holdings.

4) I look for indicators of change.? I look for companies where management is changing dramatically, and add them to my review list.? Then I wait.

Once I have have part 3 done, my waiting stops.? I quantitatively score all the companies in my portfolio against their competitors, using fundamental, technical, sentiment and other variables.? The main idea is this: buy companies with better prospects than those being sold.

The quantitative process aids my qualitative evaluations, as I analyze new attractive companies.? Many get thrown out because there is a reason for the cheapness.? Others survive and get added to the portfolio, as I sell names that are less attractive.

Now ordinarily when I do this analysis, I don’t share my results.? This time, I will share the competitor list.? Here it is:

AA AAMRQ ACNB ADS ADT ADTN AEGN AEO AFCE AFL AGRO AGU AKAM AL ALSN AMH AMX ANF APC APD APO ARCC ARII ASC ASIA ATHL ATI ATVI ATX AVB AWRE AZSEY BA BAGL BALT BANC BAP BBRY BERK BH BID BIDU BIOF BIOS BMR BNCL BODY BRE BYD CACB CACH CACI CAG CAM CBI CCI CF CHK CHS CLDT CLDX CLR CMCCMSB CNHI CNP CODE COH CPN CPSI CREE CRI CRK CRMT CSBK CSCO CTO CTRP CTSH CTWS CUBE CVC CVI CVS CXO DD DDS DEG DF DISCA DMD DNR DOOR DOV DRC DRI DRIV DRYS DSW DVA DWA EA EBSB ECTE ENDP ENZN EOX EPAM EPL EQIX ESLT ESRX EVBS EVTC EW EXP FCX FDML FI FIVE FL FLIR FLTX FOXA FUR GACR GCBC GD GES GEVA GIL GOGO GRH GTAT GTS HBAN HBI HCBK HCN HCP HDB HDY HFFC HLF HOG HOS HP HPP HUN HW HXM IACI ICA ICE ICUI IDIX IEP IGTE INFA INFY INGR INS INTL INVN IP ISBC ISRG JACK JAZZ JCP JCS JDSU JKS JONE JPM KAMN KFFB KLAC KMT KRNY LEAP LGF LMT LNN LORL LPI LPX LRN LSBK LSTR LVLT LYB MEI MGA MGYR MIND MLR MNK MON MRO MSM MU MYGN MYL NAV NBL NECB NEU NKTR NM NMM NRG NTES NTI NTK NUAN NUE NVAX NWS NWSA NX NYLD OFED OIS OMED OPK ORAN ORIG OUTR P PACB PCLN PCRX PENN PETM PKX PMT PPC PTRY PVA QCOM QLGC QSII QTM RAX RBS REIS RESI RFP RH RHHBY RLD RNWK ROMA RPXC RT S SALE SB SFM SGMS SHOS SIFI SIX SNBC SODA SPRD SQM SRC SRNE SSLT SSNC SSTK ST STC STND STPFQ STSI STZ SUSS SWI SWN SWRL SYKE SYNL TA TCPC TDG TEVA TFSL TGI THOR THR THS TPH TPX TRW TSCDY TSM TSO TSS TTEK TUP TXI TXTR UEPS UIL UMC URS UTHR UTSI VAR VIVHY VLRS VMC VSAT WCG WLFC WMPN WPO WR WSBF WSM XON XOOM XPO XXIA XYL YRCW YUME Z ZIGO ZNGA

Oddly, there are exactly nine competitors for every company in my portfolio.? That should give me a good set of companies to analyze as I sell three or so companies and buy three replacements.? Remember, it is always easier to make binary choices — do I like this better than that, than to try to maximize over a wide realm of choices.

Full disclosure: I own none of the above mentioned companies.? I will probably buy 2-5 of them in the next two days.