Low price-to-earnings
Graham defensive screen targets a P/E below 15 on trailing earnings, and a P/E times P/B product below 22.5. Stocks priced for modest growth, not heroic assumptions.
Definition
What is the Graham-Fit Score?
The Graham-Fit Score is a 0 to 100 grade that measures how closely a stock fits Benjamin Graham's deep-value criteria: low price-to-earnings, low price-to-book, current ratio above 2, and strong tangible book. invest-like computes it for every US-listed stock.
Last reviewed:
Short answer
Graham-Fit grades a stock from 0 to 100 against the quantitative checklist Benjamin Graham published in The Intelligent Investor and Security Analysis: P/E below 15, P/B below 1.5, current ratio above 2, positive earnings every year for the past decade, and long-term debt below net working capital. The headline number is the equal-weight blend of the four pillars, mapped to an A+ to D grade ladder shared with the other six framework scores. Educational fit assessment, never advice.
How the Graham-Fit Score is calculated
invest-like pulls daily fundamentals (Financial Modeling Prep), checks each pillar against the published Graham thresholds, and produces a 0 to 100 sub-score per pillar. Sub-scores blend equally into the headline number, which maps to the A+ to D grade ladder used across the seven framework scores. An LLM rubric writes one paragraph of reasoning per pillar so the grade is auditable, not a black box.
Low price-to-book
P/B at or under 1.5, with bonus weight when the stock trades close to or below tangible book. Graham distrusted goodwill and other intangibles.
Current ratio above 2
Current assets at least twice current liabilities. Graham wanted a balance sheet that could survive a recession without forced asset sales.
Strong tangible book
Long-term debt below net working capital, ten consecutive years of positive earnings, and uninterrupted dividend payments where possible.
Why Graham-Fit still matters in 2026
Graham wrote in the 1930s and 1940s and his deep-value screen still surfaces opposite-side opportunities a quality-focused screen will miss: forgotten cyclicals, cash-rich micro-caps, beaten-down financials. Treating Graham-Fit as one of seven lenses (not the only lens) lets a researcher see when a stock is cheap on Graham terms but fails on Buffett or Munger quality, which is usually the more interesting question.
The 0 to 100 score is comparable across stocks, sectors, and years. The same thresholds appear on every verdict page, in the public API, in the weekly newsletter, and in the backtested track record.
The Consensus - free weekly screen
Every Monday: the stocks that newly pass 5 or more of the 7 legendary-investor frameworks (Buffett, Graham, Lynch, Greenblatt, Munger, Fisher, Smith), plus every grade change that matters. The 5-year track record of this screen is published openly. One email a week, unsubscribe anytime.
Related
- Seven-framework methodology hub - how Graham-Fit sits alongside the other six value-investing frameworks invest-like scores every stock against.
- Top Graham-fit stocks today - the live ranking of US-listed stocks that pass Graham's net-net and defensive criteria.
- Cross-framework working papers - evidence on how Graham-style screens hold up across decades of US-listed equity data.
See the Graham-Fit grade for any stock
Open a verdict page for any US-listed ticker and the Graham-Fit grade appears alongside the other six framework scores.
Educational only. invest-like is not a registered investment adviser; nothing here is personalised investment advice. Always do your own research and consider your individual circumstances.