Brief documentation for the Mr. Goodbuy .CSV file (still in beta) Draft of 080420. The .csv file now contains 79 columns of data. Here is a brief explanation of each of the columns (A through CA). NOTE: These columns are subject to change in future. NOTE: All data now comes from Value Line (VL), from Morningstar (M*), from mklein9 (data from Yahoo), or from sheridan03's stock screener (data from Yahoo). Here is a brief explanation of each column. A Ticker symbol B Firm name C Yrs = # of years of BMWm-type data available for this stock If mklein9 provides data for this ticker symbol (see columns F and G), then the data in this column is from mklein9. Otherwise the data in this column has been downloaded using sheridan03's stock screener and calculated from the dates appearing in columns BM and BN. We have some additional date data from Value Line. Column AX tells you how many years of "total return" data VL provides, and column AY gives VL's total return (annualized) for those years. In other words, if column AX contains 5 and AY contains 8.6 it means the total return for this stock has been 8.6% per year for the past 5 years. D Qual = The firm's Quality rating -- calculated by summing financial strength (from VL -- see Column AB) multiplied by two (to give it double weight), growth persistence (from VL -- Column AC), and price stability (from VL -- Column AD), then dividing by 4. E The stock's Projected 3-5 Year Total Return, annualized, from VL. These numbers always seem high to me, so I take them with a grain of salt, but they are what VL says they are. F QPZ = The sum of the z-scores for Quality and for "Projected 3-5 Year Total Return," expressed as a percentile rank. (The z-scores themselves are not displayed.) G RMS = RMS (root mean square) data from mklein9; see also the RMS data from sheridan03 (column BQ). You can think of this is very similar to standard deviation. H RF = BMWm Return Factors from mklein9; see also Return Factors calculated by sheridan03's stock screener (column BR) and the Morningstar Fair Value Return Factor (column AS which is the return factor that would occur if the current price of a stock (column AJ) were to jump instantly to the Morningstar fair Value price (column AM). I Most recent closing price (from Value Line) J Discontinued Mar 2, 2008:CAPS # = The number of TMF CAPS "All-Stars" who have rated this stock. K P/E = P/E from VL (as of most recent close) L M* = Morningstar's overall rating of the stock (1 to 5, worst to best) M Stew = Morningstar's "stewardship" rating of firm's management (A=best) N FinanclStr = VL's rating of the firm's Financial Strength (100=best) O VL's rating of a stock's price stability (100=best) P Projected Annual Dividend Yield 3-5 years in the future, annualized (from VL) Q Discontinued Mar 2, 2008: ZksRank = Zacks rank (1=best) R Discontinued Mar 2, 2008: Size and direction of Zacks rank change from 30 days ago S Source of ValueLine ranking: Timeliness or Performance T ValueLine Ranking (Timeliness when available, otherwise Performance, 1 to 5, with 1 = best) U Discontinued Mar 2, 2008: Zir = Zacks industry rank and rank-within-industry turned into z-scores and summed, then expressed as a percentile rank V Value Line industry rank subtracted from 99 so that 98=best, 1=worst W Beta (from ValueLine) X Safety Rank (from ValueLine, 1=best) Y P/E ratio (from ValueLine) Z Dividend Yield (from Value Line) AA Projected Dividend Yield 3-5 years in the future (from ValueLine) AB Earnings Predictability (from ValueLine, 100=best) AC Financial Strength (from ValueLine, 100=best) AD Growth persistence (from ValueLine, 100=best) AE Price Stability (from ValueLine, 100=best) AF Total Return 1 Week (from Value Line) AG Total Return 4 Weeks (from Value Line) AH Total Return 13 Weeks (from Value Line) AI Total Return 26 Weeks (from Value Line) AJ Total Return Year-to-Date (From Value Line) AK Total Return 52 Weeks (from Value Line) AL 52-week High (from VL) AM 52-week low (from VL) AN Morningstar "Fair Value" price AO Close approximation of M* "Consider Buying" price, calculated from M*'s "fair value" price and M*'s "fair value uncertainty" estimate AP Close approximation of Morningstar's "Consider selling" price, calculated from M*'s "fair value" price and M*'s "fair value uncertainty" estimate AQ Closing price as % of 52-week low price AR Closing price as % of Morningstar's "Consider Buying" price AS Closing price as % of Morningstar's "Fair Value" price AT Return Factor that would be realized if stock price jumped instantly from its closing price to Morningstar's "fair value" price AU Morningstar's "Growth Grade" (A, B, C, D, F, A=best). M* says, "The growth grade shows how a company's growth compares with that of other stocks in its sector. It measures not only how fast a company's sales are growing, but how consistent that growth has been and whether it is speeding up or slowing down. The growth grade encapsulates the most important information about a company's growth into a single rating, allowing easy comparison between companies." AV Morningstar's "Profitability Grade" (A, B, C, D, F, A=best). M* says, "The profitability grade shows how well a company's profitability, as measured by its return on assets, compares with its sector. It measures not only raw profitability, but also whether a company's ROA is consistent and improving. The profitability grade encapsulates the most important information about profitability into a single rating, which allows easy comparisons between companies." AW Morningstar's Financial Health Grade (A+, A, A-, B+, B, B-, C+, C, C-, D+, D, D-, F, which I translate to 100, 95, 90, 85, 80, 75, 70, 65, 60, 55, 50, 45, 40). M* says, "To get a high financial health grade, a company should have low financial leverage (assets/equity), high cash-flow coverage (total cash flow/long-term debt), and a large cash position (cash/assets). Also, companies with improving financial health are rewarded, while those with deteriorating health are penalized." AX Morningstar total grade, which I calculate as the sum of Morningstar's Financial Health Grade (multiplied by 2 to give it double weight), plus M*'s profitability grade, plus M*'s Growth Grade, then divided by 4. For this measure, I translate M*'s growth and profitability grades as follows: A=100, B=90, C=80, D=70, F=60. AY This is the maximum number of years for which VL provides annualized "total return" data for this stock. I use this figure in column B whenver I have no "years" data from mklein9 AND I have no "years" data from sheridan03. AZ This is VL's annualized "total return" data, for the number of years in column AX. In other words if this column contains 8.6 and column AX contains 10 it means this stock has provided a total return that has averaged 8.6%/yr over the past 10 years, according to VL. BA Morningstar's Bear Market rank (1 to 10, 1=best). M* says, "To determine the ranking, Morningstar compares a stock against its peers in the same 2-digit SIC industry code. We add the stock's performance during each bear market month over the trailing five years to reach a cumulative bear-market return. Based on these returns, stocks are then assigned a decile ranking where the 10% of stocks with the worst performance receive a ranking of 10. The 10% of stocks with the best performance receive a ranking of 1. Because Morningstar employs the trailing five-year time period for this statistic, only stocks with five years of history are given a bear-market ranking." BB Morningstar's "Dividend Yield" BC Average annual dividend yield (from VL): "Dividends declared per share for a year divided by the average price of the stock in the same year, expressed as a percentage." BD Dividend growth 1 year, from VL BE Dividend growth 5 years, from VL BF Dividend growth 10 years, from VL BG Current dividend, from VL. I'm not exactly sure what "current" means in this context; I have sent a request for clarification to VL and will revise this document when I have an answer. BH price (from sheridan03's stock screener) BI average price (from sheridan03's stock screener) [I need to get more detail from sheridan03 about this measaure] BJ price-1 RMS (from sheridan03's stock screener) BK price-2 RMS (from sheridan03's stock screener) BL price+1 RMS (from sheridan03's stock screener) BM price+2 RMS (from sheridan03's stock screener) BN start date for sheridan03's stock screener BO end date for sheridan03's stock screener BP Average CAGR (from sheridan03's stock screener) BQ Current CAGR (from sheridan03's stock screener) BR RMS (from sheridan03's stock screener) BS Return Factor (from sheridan03's stick screener) BT 1 month RMS (from sheridan03's stock screener) RMS one month ago. BU 2 month RMS (from sheridan03's stock screener) RMS two months ago. BV 3 month RMS (from sheridan03's stock screener) RMS 3 months ago. BW 6 month RMS (from sheridan03's stock screener) RMS 6 months ago. BX Average CAGR (from mklein9) BY Current CAGR (from mklein9) BZ Morningstar's "fair value uncertainty" estimate, which M* describes as follows: "To generate Morningstar Fair Value Uncertainty, analysts consider factors such as: How predictable are the firm's sales? Does the company's operating profit vary widely with changes in sales? How strong is the company's balance sheet? Is there a nonfinancial issue that could materially affect the company's fortunes? Analysts then classify stocks into one of several uncertainty levels: Low, Medium, High, Very High, or Extreme. The greater the level of uncertainty, the greater the discount to fair value required before a stock can earn 5 stars, and the greater the premium to fair value before a stock earns a 1-star rating." Morningstar also says this about its "fair value uncertainty" ranking: "Fair Value Uncertainty is meant to give investors an idea of how tightly we feel we can bound our fair value estimate for any given company. To generate Morningstar Fair Value Uncertainty, analysts consider the following factors: "Sales predictability, Operating leverage, Financial leverage, and a firm's exposure to contingent events." CA "Economic Moat" (from Morningstar; W=wide; N=narrow; 0=none; - = no data). Morningstar describes "economic moat" as: "The idea of an economic moat refers to how likely companies are to keep competitors at bay for an extended period. One of the keys to finding superior long-term investments is buying companies that will be able to stay one step ahead of their competitors, and it's this characteristic--think of it as the strength and sustainability of a firm's competitive advantage--that we're trying to capture with the economic moat rating. "One of the first things we do when we're thinking about the size of a firm's economic moat is look at the company's historical financial performance. Companies that have generated returns on capital higher than their cost of capital for many years running usually have a moat, especially if their returns on capital have been rising or are fairly stable. "Of course, the past is a highly imperfect predictor of the future, so we look carefully at the source of a company's excess economic profits before assigning a moat rating. For example, a competitive advantage created by a hot new technology usually isn't very sustainable, because it won't be too long until someone comes along and invents a better widget. "Here are some of the attributes that can give companies economic moats: "Huge Market Share: When a firm enjoys economies of scale in areas like manufacturing, sales, and marketing, it can be pretty tough for a competitor to catch up. "Low-Cost Producer: The ability to produce products or services at a lower cost than competitors is an advantage that's especially potent in commodity industries. "Patents, Copyrights, or Governmental Approvals and Licenses: Some companies generate enormous profits when the government artificially protects their products or markets. "Unique Corporate Culture: Although you should be careful of placing too much emphasis on this attribute, since it's such a "soft" method of determining competitive advantage, there's no question it can make a difference. "High Customer-Switching Costs: If you can make it tough for your customers to use a competitor, it's usually easy to keep ratcheting prices up just a bit year after year--which can lead to big profits. "The Network Effect: This is a relatively rare, but potentially quite potent, source of competitive advantage, and often accrues by the first mover in an emerging technology. Because a network's value increases as more people use it, the company that creates the network can create a massive economic moat." CB Median PE (from VL). VL describes median PE as, "A rounded average of the four middle values of the range of the average annual price-earnings ratios over the past ten years.