Valuation Screener·Top 500 US large caps · Quality-adjusted value

The idea. The 500 largest US-listed companies (S&P 500-equivalent universe), ranked on a single question: where are you paying the least for quality? This is one table that combines the value lens (cheap on earnings and cash flow), the quality lens (real returns on capital, durable margins) and the timing lens (is it actually on sale right now, or at all-time highs?). Wide enough to work for both core holdings and satellite ideas — never a buy list.

Why it works. Over long horizons, share prices track earnings. A business that keeps growing free cash flow ~10% a year compounds the stock at roughly the same rate — provided the entry multiple doesn't rerate down. Over shorter horizons, price and fundamentals drift apart all the time: sentiment, macro noise, sector rotation, forced selling. Those gaps between price and underlying earnings power are exactly what this screener is built to surface.

The catch. Cheap is never free. Before touching anything near the top you have to answer one question: why is it cheap? A temporary sentiment dislocation is the setup you want. A structural decline in earnings power is a value trap dressed up as a bargain. Every row is checked against four independent trap-risk signals — EPS-revision momentum, net debt / EBITDA, sector-relative D/E for financials, and 3-year revenue trend — and rows failing any of them are flagged amber. On top of that, a quality gate pulls loss-makers and structurally low-return businesses out of the ranking entirely, so the top isn't dominated by cheap-looking wrecks.