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ROE Screener — Filter Stocks by Return on Equity
Mid and large-cap stocks ranked by return on equity, with every row labeled by a Buffett-threshold quality tier. Instantly see which companies clear Warren Buffett's 20% ROE bar — then pair it with the FCF Yield Screener and Revenue Growth Screener to find quality compounders.
How to Read ROE Data
Return on equity answers a single, powerful question: for every dollar of equity shareholders have tied up in a business, how much profit does the company generate each year? A 20% ROE means $0.20 of net income per dollar of book equity. It is the headline measure of how efficiently management compounds the capital owners have entrusted to it, and it is the number Warren Buffett has pointed to for decades as the mark of a great business.
The quality tier badge is the bookmark feature of this screener. Rather than making you eyeball a wall of percentages, every row is labeled: Buffett Quality for ROE above 20%, Strong for 15–20%, Average for 10–15%, and Weak below 10%. Filter by sector and the tiers stay put, so you can scan an industry and immediately see which names clear the durable-profitability bar and which do not.
Read ROE with two guardrails. First, leverage: because ROE divides profit by equity, heavy debt shrinks the denominator and flatters the ratio. A high ROE funded by borrowing is not the same as one funded by genuine operating efficiency. Second, consistency: one spectacular year can come from a one-time gain. The businesses Buffett prizes post 20%+ ROE year after year, through cycles — which is why the raw net income and shareholders' equity columns sit right beside the percentage, so you can sanity-check the inputs.
ROE vs. ROIC and ROA
Return on equity measures profit against the equity slice of the balance sheet only. Return on assets (ROA) measures profit against every asset the company controls, debt-funded or not, and return on invested capital (ROIC) measures profit against all invested capital — debt plus equity. When a company carries a lot of debt, ROE will look far higher than ROA or ROIC because the equity base is thin. That gap is informative: a business with 25% ROE but 6% ROIC is leaning heavily on leverage, while one where ROE and ROIC are both in the high teens is generating strong returns on the whole capital base. Use ROE to screen for shareholder-level returns, then confirm the quality with ROIC.
When High ROE Is a Trap
A high ROE is not automatically a buy signal. Several situations produce a temporarily elevated figure that misleads: a company that has bought back so many shares its equity is nearly depleted; a business carrying heavy debt that will squeeze earnings when rates rise; a firm booking a one-time gain that inflates net income for a single year; or an asset-light model whose returns look extraordinary until competition arrives. Always check whether the ROE is funded by real, recurring operating profit and a healthy balance sheet before treating a high number as a sign of quality.
Frequently asked questions
What ROE percentage is considered high?
Above 20% is considered excellent and earns the 'Buffett Quality' label in this screener — it means the company generates more than $0.20 of profit per dollar of shareholder equity. 15–20% is strong, 10–15% is average, and below 10% is weak. Always sanity-check that a high ROE is funded by genuine operating profit rather than heavy debt shrinking the equity base.
Why does Buffett focus on ROE?
Warren Buffett looks for businesses that can reinvest earnings at consistently high rates of return. A company earning 20%+ on equity year after year compounds shareholder capital far faster than one earning 8%, and it can do so without repeatedly raising new capital. Sustained high ROE is Buffett's shorthand for a durable competitive advantage — a business that keeps its returns high even as competitors try to compete them away.
How does this screener get its data?
The screener pulls a curated list of roughly 90 mid and large-cap stocks across sectors and fetches each company's return on equity, trailing net income, shareholders' equity, and sector from Yahoo Finance. It computes the quality tier server-side from the ROE thresholds and sorts by ROE descending. Data refreshes hourly.
Can ROE be negative?
Yes. A negative ROE means the company posted a net loss over the trailing period, so it is destroying rather than building shareholder equity. Negative ROE can also appear, confusingly, when a company has negative shareholders' equity from years of losses or large buybacks — in that case the ratio becomes meaningless and should be ignored in favor of absolute profit figures.
Should I buy a stock just because it has high ROE?
No. High ROE is a quality filter, not a valuation signal. A wonderful business bought at too high a price can still be a poor investment. Use this screener to build a shortlist of durably profitable companies, then run a DCF or check the FCF yield to judge whether the price is reasonable. Click any ticker to open the full Basis Report analysis for that step.
How do I find the full analysis for a stock in the screener?
Click the ticker symbol in the first column to open the Basis Report stock intelligence page for that company. From there you can run a full DCF valuation, review earnings quality scores, see analyst ratings, and generate a complete research report. The ROE screener is the entry point; the full report gives you the depth to make a decision.