MHP: CGS in, BKG out

Proforma: The MHP (Magic Hat Portfolio) on Stockopedia (http://www.stockopedia.com/fan...) is an experiment by me to see if a human can improve on a mechanical Greeblatt Magic Formula screen. I am trying to weed out "mistakes" that I feel the screening commits: unseasoned companies, scams, foreign companies (particularly Chinese), fishy accounting, and statistical quirks. Apart from that, I am agnostic as to the sector the company operates in, although I will try to avoid heavy concentration in any one sector. I will mostly apply "Strategic Ignorance", by which I mean that I wont try to be clever in my stockpicking. My picking will be mostly mechanical. A summary of transactions can be found at https://blippy.github.io/money... As of January 2020, I have adjusted my strategy a little. Instead of selecting stocks from the Greenblatt Screen, I will select them from Stockopedia's Screen Of Screens, and look for a StockRank (TM) in the 90's. I won't rule out selecting something from the Greenblatt Screen, though. With the boilerplate now out the way, let's move on to the actual content ... 

Homebuilding & Construction Supplies company Berkeley Group (LON:BKG) leaves the portfolio by rotation, to be replaced by Castings (LON:CGS). There's nothing that I consider especially wrong with Berkeley Group (LON:BKG). It qualifies for the Richard Beddard Nifty Thrifty Screen, which has a good track record.  I decided to swap if for something that satisfies my selection criteria nevertheless. BKG returned 34% over its holding period of a year. Not shabby at all!

Metals & Mining company Castings (LON:CGS) enters the portfolio , having met the criteria outlined in the first paragraph of this post. It was incorporated in 1907, and has been public since 1986. It has a long and venerable history. It crops up in Richard Beddard's articles quite a lot, so it's safe to assume that it's a solid, sensible company.

The company trades on a PE of 15.5, which doesn't put it in the bargain bucket, nor on a racy valuation. The Value Score is 80, with an overall StockRank of 95. It has an EV/EBITDA of 6.8, which I view as attractive for a company of high quality such as this. As an additional attraction,