*Note: If the latest quarterly/semi-annual/annual total assets data is 0, then we will use previous quarterly/semi-annual/annual data for all the items in the balance sheet.
Profitability
Question 1. Return on Assets (ROA)
Net income before extraordinary items for the year divided by Total Assets at the beginning of the year.
Score 1 if positive, 0 if negative.
Whole Foods Market's current Net Income (TTM) was 388.
==> Positive ==> Score 1.
Question 2. Cash Flow Return on Assets (CFROA)
Net cash flow from operating activities (operating cash flow) divided by Total Assets at the beginning of the year.
Whole Foods Market's return on assets of this year was 0.06183267. Whole Foods Market's return on assets of last year was 0.07886017.
==> Last year is higher ==> Score 0.
Question 4. Quality of Earnings (Accrual)
Compare Cash flow return on assets (2) to return on assets (1)
Score 1 if CFROA > ROA, 0 if CFROA <= ROA.
Whole Foods Market's current Net Income (TTM) was 388. Whole Foods Market's current Cash Flow from Operations (TTM) was 1,253.
==> 1,253 > 388 ==> CFROA > ROA ==> Score 1.
Funding
Question 5. Change in Gearing or Leverage
Compare this year's gearing (long-term debt divided by average total assets) to last year's gearing.
Score 0 if this year's gearing is higher, 1 otherwise.
Whole Foods Market's gearing of this year was 0.16282183. Whole Foods Market's gearing of last year was 0.17112561.
==> This year is lower or equal to last year. ==> Score 1.
Question 6. Change in Working Capital (Liquidity)
Compare this year's current ratio (current assets divided by current liabilities) to last year's current ratio.
Score 1 if this year's current ratio is higher, 0 if it's lower
Whole Foods Market's current ratio of this year was 1.65483384. Whole Foods Market's current ratio of last year was 1.45392749.
==> This year's current ratio is higher. ==> Score 1.
Question 7. Change in Shares in Issue
Compare the number of shares in issue this year, to the number in issue last year.
Score 0 if there is larger number of shares in issue this year, 1 otherwise.
Whole Foods Market's number of shares in issue this year was 320.3. Whole Foods Market's number of shares in issue last year was 321.2.
==> There is smaller number of shares in issue this year, or the same. ==> Score 1.
Efficiency
Question 8. Change in Gross Margin
Compare this year's gross margin (Gross Profit divided by sales) to last year's.
Score 1 if this year's gross margin is higher, 0 if it's lower.
Whole Foods Market's gross margin of this year was 0.33923285. Whole Foods Market's gross margin of last year was 0.34488702.
==> Last year's gross margin is higher ==> Score 0.
Question 9. Change in asset turnover
Compare this year's asset turnover (total sales for the year divided by total assets at the beginning of the year) to last year's asset turnover ratio.
Score 1 if this year's asset turnover ratio is higher, 0 if it's lower
Whole Foods Market's asset turnover of this year was 2.5301992. Whole Foods Market's asset turnover of last year was 2.59542744.
==> Last year's asset turnover is higher ==> Score 0.
Evaluation
Piotroski F-Score
=
Que. 1
+
Que. 2
+
Que. 3
+
Que. 4
+
Que. 5
+
Que. 6
+
Que. 7
+
Que. 8
+
Que. 9
=
1
+
1
+
0
+
1
+
1
+
1
+
1
+
0
+
0
=
6
Good or high score = 7, 8, 9
Bad or low score = 0, 1, 2, 3
Whole Foods Market has an F-score of 6 indicating the company's financial situation is typical for a stable company.
The developer of the system is Joseph D. Piotroski is relatively unknown accounting professor who shuns publicity and rarely gives interviews.
He graduated from the University of Illinois with a B.S. in accounting in 1989, received an M.B.A. from Indiana University in 1994. Five years later, in 1999, after earning a Ph.D. in accounting from the University of Michigan, he became an associate professor of accounting at the University of Chicago.
He wanted to see if he can develop a system (using a simple nine-point scoring system) that can increase the returns of a strategy of investing in low price to book (referred to in the paper as high book to market) value companies.
What he found was something that exceeded his most optimistic expectations.
Buying only those companies that scored highest (8 or 9) on his nine-point scale, or F-Score as he called it, over the 20 year period from 1976 to 1996 led to an average out-performance over the market of 13.4%.
Even more impressive were the results of a strategy of investing in the highest F-Score companies (8 or 9) and shorting companies with the lowest F-Score (0 or 1).
Over the same period from 1976 to 1996 (20 years) this strategy led to an average yearly return of 23%, substantially outperforming the average S&P 500 index return of 15.83% over the same period.
Whole Foods Market Piotroski F-Score Related Terms
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