Quality stocks — high returns, low debt, steady growth

'Quality' has no single definition, but most versions share these four ingredients: high returns on capital (ROE and ROCE), a conservative balance sheet (low debt) and growth that shows the returns are being reinvested. Requiring all four at once is strict, and it is meant to be. It removes companies whose high ROE comes from leverage and companies whose returns are high only because they have stopped growing. Quality usually costs a premium, which the P/E column shows.