Help Contents > Evaluating Stocks

Key Stats, Earnings, Dividends, Ownership, and Financial Statements

The fundamentals of the stock are broken out over several pages that supply in-depth information, supported by interactive charts, about the stock you're evaluating. Fundamental financial information include competitive analysis, key statisics, SEC filings, detailed insider activity information, financials, and earnings, dividends, and estimates information.

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Where can I find definitions for the terms used on the fundamentals pages?

Significant financial terms are defined in the Research glossary, which you can access by clicking Help/Glossary.

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How is the Industry Average and Percentile Ranking Determined?

The Compare table provides a snapshot view of the security's and issuing company's fundamentals to the average of its industry, and provides its percentile rank within the industry, relative to its peers.

The Industry Average and Percentile Rank methodology is based on the daily list of U.S. equity securities in each industry to which a company belongs, as determined by Standard & Poor's. S&P uses the Global Industry Classification Standard (GICS)SM, an industry classification system developed by S&P in collaboration with Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI).

A company is assigned to a single GICS sub-industry according to the definition of its principal business activity as determined by Standard & Poor's and MSCI. Revenues are a significant factor in defining principal business activity; however, earnings analysis and market perception are also important criteria for classification.

Securities are first grouped into their respective S&P GIC Industry, null values are removed and then the percentile is computed. The percentile is the value of a variable below which a certain percent of observations fall. So the 20th percentile is the value (or score) below which 20 percent of the observations may be found. Sometimes, being in the 100th percentile is not the best for items such as Debt to Capital Ratio where a lower number means less debt. Therefore, being in the 1st percentile indicates lower debt than its peers in the industry.

The Industry Average is a market cap-weighted average of the non-null values in the industry.

To show a more meaningful average, the following data points. values are removed from the universe when the value is negative to remove the outliers: Current Ratio (TTM), Income/Employee (TTM), Revenue/Employee (TTM); and Dividend Yield (TTM). While "zero" is valid for numerous items, the intent is to show the average for those that have actual results. Thus, if discussing dividends, the goal is to show that for all companies paying dividends.

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What kind of information is displayed on the Earnings page?

For a specified stock, the Earnings page includes charts and tables displaying up to 10 years of comprehensive earnings information as well as various analytics to compare a stock's performance and valuation versus that of its Industry and Sector.

IBES estimates are calculated using the mean forecast from analysts' earnings expectations for a particular company, thereby allowing clients to understand a company's expected vs. actual performance over a given period of time. This approach allows for a "apples to apples" comparisons by only using estimates and actual earnings figures created on the same accounting basis. All estimates are reviewed according to rigorous quality control measures including both pre- and post-product quality reviews.

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What kind of information is displayed on the Dividends page?

For a specified stock, the Dividends page includes charts and tables displaying up to 10 years of comprehensive dividend information as well as various analytics evaluating dividend growth and sustainability when compared with the Company's history.

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What does the Ownership & Insiders page show?

Divided into three tabs, the Ownership & Insiders page provides you a view of who owns the stock, and of trading activity by those with an existing stake in the company, either as a significant investor or as an agent or director of the company. The Ownership tab provides a high-level view of who owns the stock, displaying the percentage of the total stock that is held by various types of mutual fund and institutional investors. Investors with the largest holdings in each category are displayed, with details of their total holdings. Insider Transactions shows a weekly graphic account of insider buys and sells, as well as details of each transaction in tabular form. Insider Trends indicates the sentiment indicated by the balance of insider transactions (a comparison of buys and sells on the open market) and indicates which insiders have bought and sold the most stock, and whose transactions would have served as the most accurate predictive indicators for the stock.

What are the different types of transactions?


Transaction Definitions
Sell Open market sales
Buy Open market buys
Private Sell Insider sells shares back to the company
Private Buy Insider buys shares directly from the company
Disposition Non-open market disposition (i.e. gifts, dividends, 401K or IRA distributions, etc.)
Acquisition Non-open market acquisition (i.e. gifts, dividends, 401K or IRA distributions, etc.)
Exercised Option Acquiring of stock options
Automatic Buy Plan on file to periodically buy shares with no regard for market condition
Automatic Sell Plan on file to periodically sell shares with no regard for market condition
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How do I use the Financial Statements page?

Use Financial Statements to view a company's balance sheet, income statement, and state of cash flow—used together, these items can help provide a complete financial picture. Annual and quarterly reports are available.

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What does the SEC Filings page provide?

SEC Filings provides access to documents a company has filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Financial filings are noted with an asterisk. They include 10-Q (Quarterly Summary Reports) and 10-K (Annual Summary Reports). For earlier reports, click View All Filings. Two years of data is available.

Periodic Filings include reports other than the 10-Q and 10-K report for the last 12 quarters. For earlier reports, click View All Filings.

All linkks take you to the actual SEC filing, where all supporting documentation is available.

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