How to find stocks of big companies for less than $5

— -- Q: How can I find stocks trading for less than $1, $2 and $5 a share?

A: The price of a stock, by itself, doesn't tell you much.

You need to look at its market value, that is the share price multiplied by the number of shares outstanding. This is also called a company's valuation. A previous Ask Matt column explains why you need to look beyond a stock's share price.

So, you want to find stocks that trade for small share prices? USATODAY.com's Stock, Fund and ETF Screener can help.

Here's how: Use the link in the paragraph above or log onto USATODAY.com's Money section at money.usatoday.com. Next, hover your mouse pointer over the "Markets" link in the ribbon at the top of the page. When the drop-down menu opens, choose the Stock/Fund/ETF Screener option.

Now you're in the online screening tool. You just need to set a couple of parameters. Under the Price heading, put a check in the box next to the "Show stocks trading per share from $" and enter 0 to 1.

When you're done, click on the "Next button at the bottom of the page. On the next page, check P/E Ratio and 52-Week High to give you some perspective on these price. Then click the "Show stocks" button at the bottom of the page.

You'll get a list of stocks trading for less than $1 and those that have no earnings will have n/a in the P/E column. The 52-week high price will give you an idea if the stocks are hitting traiding near their year highs.

Repeat the instructions above using $2 and $5 to see stocks with prices below those levels.

You can also find out which low-priced stocks are in a major stock market index, like the Standard & Poor's 500. Here's a list of the stocks in the S&P 500. If you check the list of stocks from the USA TODAY screen with the list of stocks in the S&P 500, you'll have a comprehensive list of the largest U.S. companies with the lowest per-share stock prices.