Magic Formula
Good businesses at bargain prices: the 30 best combined ranks on earnings yield and return on capital.
Joel Greenblatt ranks every company twice — once by how cheap it is (operating income against enterprise value) and once by how good it is (return on invested capital) — and buys the best combined ranks. Neither ranking alone is special; together they avoid both cheap junk and expensive quality. Financials and utilities are left out because their capital structure breaks both measures.
Based on The Little Book That Beats the Market (Joel Greenblatt, 2005).
$10,000 in this list since 2016
Rebuilt every month from the data public at the time
- Per year
- +11.8%
- All stocks +9.4%, S&P 500 +13.8%
- Worst fall from a peak
- -42%
- All stocks -35%
- Months ahead of all stocks
- 53%
- 120 months tested
- Stocks held, on average
- 30
- Equal weights
- Past 12 months
- +25.0%
- All stocks +4.1%, S&P 500 +12.4%
- Volatility, per year
- 23%
- All stocks 22%
- Sharpe ratio
- 0.48
- All stocks 0.40; return over cash per unit of volatility
- Replaced each month
- 15%
- Share of the list that changes at a rebalance
Live since Oct 19, 2026. Holding the list as published, rebought at each month end: -0.8% against +2.1% for all stocks and +0.7% for the S&P 500, to Oct 30, 2026. Too short a period to read much into.
- Magic Formula
- All US stocks, equal weight
- S&P 500 (price only)
Year by year
| Portfolio | 2016from Oct 31 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | 2026to Oct 19 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This list | +9% | +28% | -18% | +15% | +5% | +42% | -22% | +32% | +14% | +14% | +14% |
| All US stocks | +12% | +19% |
30 stocks on the list today
As of the close on Oct 30, 2026; 2 joined and 2 left since Oct 29, 2026
| # | Company | Share price | 1D | Market cap | EBIT yield | ROIC | EV/EBITDA | P/E | Rev. growth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | nutxNutex Health | $200.15 | −4.7% | $1.4B | 27.6% | 142% | 3.4× | 7.9× | +6.9% |
| 2 |
Left the list at the latest update
More value ideas
- Graham's defensive investorLarge, steady companies that pass Benjamin Graham's tests for the cautious investor.
- Net-netsCompanies trading for less than their current assets minus every liability.
- High F-Score valueCheap stocks on book value whose finances are improving on at least 8 of Piotroski's 9 tests.
- More cash than they're worthCompanies whose net cash covers at least half of their market value.
- Undervalued and financially soundAt least 30% below our fair value estimate, with a healthy balance sheet.
A list produced by rules, not a recommendation. Past results in the backtest don't predict future returns. How the backtests work.