In the 10th installment of the "Mastering the GuruFocus Site" series, we continue the previous episode, "Show Me the Data," diving into the various sources of GuruFocus' data and calculations.
The series will consist of 12 short videos (approximately three to five minutes each) meant to provide users with everything they need to know about how to navigate the GuruFocus site quickly, efficiently and to full effect.
Throughout the series, we have made every effort to provide answers to the questions that new users most frequently ask us about. This isn't a cut-and-dry manufacturer's instruction book; we have taken the input we have received from GuruFocus users and used it to create a quick and comprehensive introductory series.
Next time, we will be diving into the interactive charts, which are powerful tools that can help you visualize data about how a company has performed over time. Stay tuned!
Text version:
Hello, welcome to GuruFocus! This is the 10th episode of "Mastering the GuruFocus Site," a series designed to help you learn your way around at GuruFocus.com.
This is the second part of "Show Me the Data." In the first part, we went over the sources for GuruFocus' raw data, as well as the definitions and calculations for metrics found on the stock summary pages. In this episode, we will go over how you can identify sources and track down calculations on our All-in-One Screener and guru portfolio pages.
The All-in-One Screener features hundreds of possible stock screening options organized under tabs by type. In addition to the preset screening criteria, you can also create your own custom criteria. With so many different screening criteria, there are bound to be a few that even the most experienced investors do not know off the top of their head.
You can find the definitions for most of the criteria by searching for them on our definitions page. Alternatively, you can see the definition for a metric simply by selecting it as one of the screening criteria.
To demonstrate, I've selected a few criteria to do a search. For this example, we will use the price-earnings ratio [select range of 10 to 15], the forward rate of return [select minimum of 10], probability of financial distress [select maximum of 5], the financial strength rating and the profitability rating [both a minimum of 6].
Next, we scroll down to see our results. To see a basic definition of each metric, simply hover your cursor over the name like this and the definition window will appear. To read the full definition, simply click on the blue word "More" at the bottom. You can also see this type of definition on our preset screeners and several other places – just look for this kind of grey heading at the top.
Now, you may notice that some of the metrics do not have the blue link at the bottom, such as the "probability of financial distress." For these, it is typically either because the metric is mostly self-explanatory (such as revenue or market cap) or because the calculation is simply too long and complex and needs to be explained in historical context and with examples.
Thus, for the probability of financial distress and others that we only have a brief few words on, you can copy the words here and paste them into your favorite search engine. In the search results, you may see that GuruFocus does have an article on the metric that you can review. For an even more in-depth explanation, you can often even read the academic papers in which the metric was presented.
Let's move on to the guru portfolio data.
The guru portfolio data comes from a combination of SEC filings and extrapolations of those filings. For example, the number of shares bought of a stock and the quarter during which they were bought come from the SEC, but institutions are not required to publicly disclosed the exact date or purchase price in quarterly or annual filings, so that's why we show the price range for the period in question here instead of an exact purchase price.
You can see the definitions of the metrics on this page by hovering over the little question mark here.
Clicking on the little graph next to the stock ticker will take you to a detailed graph of the holding history. The green bars represent how many shares of the stock the guru owned each quarter, while the blue line tracks the stock price. Please note that it does not follow the stock price exactly; instead, each white dot represents the average stock price during the quarter, and the dots are then connected. Using these averages, we then calculate the total estimated gain of the holding, which you can find at the bottom of this section.
That's all for this video! In the next episode, we will be diving into the interactive charts. Stay tuned!
If you want to see more from GuruFocus, make sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel, or find us on social media. Thanks for watching!
