I'm going to be more bearish than you and say that people who find stock research "overwhelming" as in the HN strapline shouldn't be investing in individual stocks at all (unless they get employer equity on a very favourable basis, or the individual stocks they're invested in are all ETFs)

That said, I do quite like the idea of an algorithm that hedges risk, but for the average person's retirement fund wouldn't that be best done with a proper fully diversified portfolio minus a few stocks whose performance is heavily correlated with your earning potential? If so wouldn't that be best as actual funds marketed at employees in particular industries rather than a software stock-selection tool.