The 28 companies in BMO Capital’s high-quality stock screen

BMO Capital Markets has spotlighted what it considers to be a high-quality stock screen which consists of 28 names.

“While we continue to be relatively bullish on the outlook for US stocks, we do believe that investors will be forced to contend with higher levels of volatility over the near term,” BMO Capital said in an investor note on Tuesday.

Therefore, BMO said, quality can assist investors in guarding against volatility and also offer benefits during periods of market strength.

In developing its screening, it used the following criteria:

• B+ or higher S&P stock rank
• BBB- or higher S&P Long-term debt rating
• 5-year EPS growth volatility lower than S&P 500 median value
• ROE higher than S&P 500 median value
• Cash as a percentage of market cap higher than S&P 500 median value

BMO Capital’s High Quality Stock Screen

• Aflac Incorporated (AFL)
• Allegion plc (ALLE)
• Amgen Inc (AMGN)
• Ameriprise Finl (AMP)
• Air Prods & Chems (APD)
• Brown & Brown (BRO)
• Chubb Limited (CB)
• CBOE Global Mkts (CBOE)
• Cummins (CMI)
• Cisco (CSCO)
• Edwards Lifesciences Corp (EW)
• Alphabet (GOOGL)
• Honeywell (HON)
• Idex Corp (IEX)
• Johnson & Johnson (JNJ)
• Coca-Cola (KO)
• Kroger Co (KR)
• Lam Research Corp (LRCX)
• 3M (MMM)
• Nike (NKE)
• NVR Inc (NVR)
• Omnicom Group (OMC)
• Pulte Group (PHM)
• Packaging Corp (PKG)
• Raymond James Finl (RJF)
• Snap On (SNA)
• Texas Instruments (TXN)
• Visa (V)