Low-Debt Revenue Growers
Growth funded by debt is fragile growth. When rates rise or revenue slows, leverage compounds losses — and the businesses that looked unstoppable during the cheap-money years can suddenly look very vulnerable.
This screen looks for the opposite: companies growing revenue above 15% annually while maintaining debt-to-equity below 0.3. The combination signals internally-funded, sustainable expansion rather than balance-sheet-financed growth. Pair with the methodology on backtesting pitfalls to understand how to validate quality-growth screens against real history.
Criteria
- Balance sheet: Debt-to-equity below 0.3 (low leverage)
- Revenue growth: Trailing-12-month revenue growth above 15%
- Quality score: Tessera Rating ≥ 60 / 100
- Profitability floor: Positive operating margin
Underlying methodology
See the current top 10 stocks for this screen
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Why combine low debt with high growth?
Growth funded with debt is fragile — when rates rise or revenue stalls, leverage compounds losses. Companies that grow revenue while maintaining low leverage are demonstrating that the growth is internally funded, sustainable, and not dependent on cheap capital. Both metrics together filter for genuine compounders rather than balance-sheet-financed expansion.
Is 0.3 debt/equity a strict threshold?
It is a deliberate strict threshold — most US companies have D/E above 0.5, so this screen filters to roughly the top quintile by balance-sheet quality. The trade-off is fewer matches; the upside is a much cleaner signal.
Are tech companies overrepresented?
They tend to be — software companies in particular often have high revenue growth and low debt. The screen does not exclude tech, but does require the quality and profitability filters, which removes pre-profit speculative names.