• What is CAN SLIM?

CAN SLIM is IBD's acronym for the seven common characteristics all great performing stocks have before they make their biggest gains. You can significantly reduce your risk and increase returns by using the CAN SLIM Investment Research Tool as a fact-based performance checklist to evaluate a stock before you buy.

• C = Current Quarterly Earnings Per Share

Look for earnings increases of at least 18% to 20% above the same quarter one-year prior.

• A = Annual Earnings Per Share

Look for meaningful, consistent earnings growth over the last five years, with increases each year over the prior year.

• N = New Products, New Management, New Highs

The best stocks had new products, services, or new management driving their stock prices. Stocks making new highs tend to go higher.

• S = Supply and Demand

Look for a small or reasonable number of shares outstanding that create buying pressure, and watch for above-average volume increases as stock's price increases.

• L = Leaders

The best stocks were already leading stocks in leading industries, so avoid laggards and focus on strength and leadership.

• I = Institutional Sponsorship

Institutional investors are a major influence on stock prices, so buy stocks with at least some institutional ownership, particularly mutual funds with good performance records.

• M = Market

The general market should be positive, since three out of four stocks follow its trend.

• How to Find CAN SLIM Stocks

Use Investor's Business Daily and Investors.com in tandem to identify, validate, and track potential winners with quick reviews of key IBD fact-based market assessments.

• Step 1: Identify Stocks with CAN SLIM Traits

Scan the List: Investor's Business Daily 100 is IBD's weekly ranking of leading companies. Companies are measured in terms of profit ans sales growth, stock performance, and other factors. Your Weekly Review ( exclusively in the print edition ) identifies industry leaders showing strong earnings growth and price performance.

Discover Promising Companies: The New America features groundbreaking companies that often fly under Wall Street's radar, yet are among the fastest growing enterprises.

Find Stocks with Winning Traits: Check Screen Of The Day ( exclusively on Investors.com ) for a daily look at some of the market's stongest stocks. Each day, this computer-generated list is compiled by Investors.com's editors to help you identify the best stocks.

See where the Market's Headed: Understand today's investment climate with the The Big Picture. This column reviews significant action in the major indexes and examines the condition of leading stocks.

• Step 2: Validate & Research CAN SLIM Stocks

Check the Stocks Relative Health: IBD Stock Checkup: IBD's "stock doctor" diagnoses the overall health of a stock with fact-based examinations of its techinical and fundamental performance.

Get the Story behind the Stock: IBD Archives let you assess the business history of prospective investments. Research IBD articles dating back to January 1998 by company name, ticker symbols or IBD's industry groups. Simply save or print articles that are of interest.

Watch Key Price and Volume Action: Daily and weekly IBD Charts are color coded to help you identify buying and selling trends. These charts include CAN SLIM-vital data such as moving average lines and Relative Strength lines. These tools are invaluable in gauging the right time to buy or sell.

Buy and Sell Like A Pro: Daily Graphs Online is an interactive, financial information service offering premium stock charts for equities traded on the NYSE, AMEX, and NASDAQ. The service provides technical, fundamental and unique proprietary data for over 10,000 companies that are tracked in the William O'Neil + Co. Database.