What are the criteria for magic formula investing?

Asked by: Braulio Klein DVM  |  Last update: March 15, 2026
Score: 4.3/5 (27 votes)

Requirements for Magic Formula Investing
  • Set a minimum market capitalization for your portfolio companies. ...
  • Ensure you exclude any financial or utility stocks when you choose your companies.
  • Exclude American Depository Receipts (ADRs). ...
  • Calculate each company's earnings yield (EBIT ÷ Enterprise Value).

What are the metrics of magic formula investing?

The magic formula investing strategy is based on a simple principle: buy good companies at good prices. It uses two key financial metrics to identify these companies: return on capital (ROC) and earnings yield (EY).

What are the 3 criteria to consider when choosing investments?

Investing always involves risk, including the potential loss of principal. Participants should carefully consider their risk tolerance, investing time horizon, needs and objectives as well as the specific risks and limitations associated with each of the investment options before investing.

How is the magic formula calculated?

Calculating the Magic Formula

To calculate the Magic Formula score, you separately rank all stocks by EBIT/EV. For example the company with the highest EBIT/Enterprise Value would get a value of 1, the next best 2 and so forth.

How to use magic formula investing?

Key components of the Magic Formula
  1. Firstly, one needs to select a list of large-cap stocks. ...
  2. After this, one needs to exclude any financial and utility stocks from this list.
  3. Now, two ratios need to be calculated for each stock in this list, namely, the Earnings Yield and the Return on Invested Capital.

Does Magic Formula Investing Work? | Seth's Little Book Update

30 related questions found

What are the requirements for magic formula investing?

What Is the Magic Investing Formula? Screening stocks using the magic formula method is based on a rankings system. As developed by Greenblatt, this system uses three distinct criteria to rank companies: earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT), earnings per share, and return on capital.

What is the minimum market cap for the magic formula?

Requirements for Magic Formula Investing

Since Greenblatt's magic formula only applies to companies with market capitalizations greater than $50 million, it excludes small-cap stocks. The remainder will all be large companies but excludes financial companies, utility companies, and non-U.S. companies.

What is the magic formula score?

Stockopedia explains Magic Formula Score

An overall ranking for each stock is created by combining the rank of a company's Return on Capital vs the market (its quality) with the rank of its Earnings Yield (its cheapness).

What is the magic formula function?

The Magic Formula y(x) typically produces a curve that passes through the origin x = y = 0, reaches a maximum, and subsequently tends to a horizontal asymptote.

What is the golden rule of investment?

1 — Never lose money. Let's kick it off with some timeless advice from legendary investor Warren Buffett, who said, “Rule No. 1 is never lose money.

What is the rule of 72 is a thumb rule that indicates?

The Rule of 72 is an easy way to calculate how long an investment will take to double in value given a fixed annual rate of interest. Dividing 72 by the annual rate of return gives investors an estimate of how many years it will take for the initial investment to duplicate.

What is the 5 rule in investing?

This rule suggests that no more than 5% of your total investment capital should be allocated to a single property. By adhering to this guideline, investors can mitigate risk and ensure a balanced portfolio, reducing the impact of any single property's underperformance.

Does magic formula work?

A 2022 study of the stock market in Norway found that the magic formula generates risk-adjusted excess returns. Over the sample period (2003-2022) the strategy had a CAGR of 21.56%. However, these returns may not be achievable in real-world conditions due to the impact of transaction costs.

What is magic formula ratio?

This is how the two Magic Formula investing ratios are calculated: Return on invested capital (ROIC) = EBIT / (net working capital + net fixed assets). Earnings yield = EBIT / Enterprise value.

What is a coffee can portfolio?

A coffee can portfolio is a long-term bet on certain stocks that have extremely good promoter lineage, have consistently performed over the years, have a long runway for growth and are backed by good management to name a few.

What is the magic formula for success?

MAGIC FORMULA OF ATTITUDE

In a nutshell, it is your 'Attitude' which determines success. You can achieve only what you think you can achieve. The attitude towards life – the strength of character of getting up after a fall, dusting yourself and starting afresh once again – determines how successful you become.

What is the magic number formula?

You can calculate the magic number for your SaaS business by subtracting the last quarter's annual recurring revenue (ARR) from the current quarter's ARR and dividing by your total customer acquisition cost (CAC) (your total sales and marketing spend) from the previous quarter.

How do you find the magic number?

How is a magic number calculated? Games remaining + 1 - (losses by second-place team - losses by first-place team) = magic number. A team's magic number represents the combination of wins needed by that team and losses by its closest competitor that would result in that team mathematically-clinching a playoff spot.

How to write "I love you" in numbers?

So, 143 stands for I Love You. This numeric code is popular because it's easy to remember and type out, especially in texts or social media posts. The origin of 143 as an encoded message of love is unclear, but it became widely known in the 1990s through pager code.

What are the criteria for the magic formula?

The Magic Formula Criteria

Greenblatt's magic formula is based on two key criteria: earnings yield and return on capital. The formula aims to identify companies that are both cheap and profitable, with the belief that these stocks have the highest potential for outsized returns.

Is a $10 billion market cap good?

Large-cap: Market value of $10 billion or more; generally mature, well-known companies within established industries. Midcap: Market value between $3 billion and $10 billion; typically established companies within industries experiencing or expected to experience rapid growth.

What is famous magic formula in stock market?

Joel Greenblatt's magic formula for investing works on two principles – the current price of a stock and the parent company's net operational costs. It suggests you invest in the stocks of companies with extraordinary return on capital employed (ROCE) or high earnings yield.