Thrifty 30 members Colefax, Castings and Haynes Publishing grace the tables

It's reassuring to see seasoned Thrifty 30 members Castings and Haynes Publishing gracing the Thrifty and Nifty screens this month. Both shares have risen in price since I added to them to the portfolio but their continued presence in the tables suggests I should consider adding more. Colefax, I've just added:

NB: Here's the Thrifty screen spreadsheet, you can find a short description of the screen on the shortlists page, and here's a description of how to value a company using ROE and PB, and an explanation of Piotroski's F_Score.

NB: Here's the Nifty screen spreadsheet, you can find a short description of the screen on the shortlists page, and here's a description of how to value a company using ROE and PB, and an explanation of Piotroski's F_Score.

The two screens are very similar, targeting companies with profitable operations at cheap prices, but the Nifty screen puts the emphasis on consistent profitability. To construct it I instruct Sharelockholmes to exclude any company from the table that has failed to earn a Return on Equity of 10% or more averaged over every period it measures (1, 3, 5 and 10 years).

All that is required of a Thrifty company is that average profitability over the last ten years has been positive.

Otherwise, the screens are identical.

The Nifty screen seeks companies that perform in all economic conditions, hence profitability does not vary so much, they're so-called defensive businesses. By allowing more variability, The Thrifty screen admits cyclical businesses that fluctuate depending on the economic circumstances.

If a Nifty company is also in the Thrifty table it's particularly exciting as it implies the market may not be recognising the defensive qualities of the company (or there is something bad about it that is not captured in the statistics), which explains my enthusiasm for Castings, Haynes and Colefax.

Of the remaining Nifty companies, Latchways, which also features in both tables, looks most interesting. It makes fall protection systems for people working at height.

Although it's hardly cheap by the conventional price to book measure, its supersonic record of profitability, albeit derived partly from leverage, is hard to ignore. Potentially Latchways is a niche business with hidden champion credentials.