The Analyst’s Course · Quant SQL
The Full Pipeline — SQL Finds, the Engines Veto, You Decide
Layer 1: the screen (seconds)
Run your composite (lesson 4) or a simple filter (lesson 2) to produce a candidate list — say, quality+value: roe > 0.15, pe < 18, net_debt_to_ebitda < 2, positive 3-month momentum to avoid falling knives. Expect 5–15 names. The screen's job is to spend your expensive attention only on candidates worth it — it is a triage nurse, not a doctor.
Layer 2: the veto (minutes per name)
Take each candidate into the accounting panel: EQ score first (does cash confirm?), then Z (does it survive?), then M with drivers (any manipulation fingerprint?). Candidates failing quality are dropped; grey-zone ones get footnote homework. This is where Sears-type value traps die, and where the screener's silence on accruals, leverage quality, and filing structure gets corrected. Budget honestly: five names × two minutes beats fifty names × zero thought.
Layer 3: the price (the rest)
Survivors go to the valuation sandbox: WACC from live data, reverse-DCF what the price implies (lesson 7 of Track B), and the comps median as the sanity band. The output is the same written certificate the other tracks produce: what must be true for this price to make sense, and do I believe it? The full loop — screen → veto → price → write — is the actual daily work of fundamental quants, and every piece of it is now in your hands.
A worked loop, compressed
A real run of this pipeline in 2024: screen surfaced a mid-cap industrial at 11× with 19% ROE — textbook candidate. Accounting panel: EQ 85, Z 3.4 safe, M unlikely — passed. Valuation: reverse-DCF showed the price implying ~4% FCF growth forever — roughly GDP, undemanding. The written thesis took four sentences; the position was sized and held through 2024–25 volatility without drama. The loop's value was invisible — no story, no excitement, just a verified mismatch between price and required growth. That is what the process produces: quiet, defensible, boring decisions.
What you'll practise
The screen's proper role in the pipeline is…
3 graded checkpoints · certification exam at the end of the track
Sources
Fama & French (1992, 2015); Daniel & Moskowitz (2016); screener traps per standard practice
Learn content is for education only — not individualized financial advice, a recommendation, or a solicitation to buy or sell any security. Options involve substantial risk. Examples are simplified and historical patterns never guarantee future results.