Stock score
Frequently asked questions
How is the stock score calculated?
Seven weighted components add up to 100: insider buying versus selling from recent SEC Form 4 filings (20 points), profitability from the last four reported quarters and its trend (20), valuation via trailing P/E computed from the live price and reported earnings (15), dilution from share-count growth plus offering-related filings (15), the balance sheet weighing cash against long-term debt (10), a chart read covering the 50-day and 200-day moving averages and the 52-week range (10), and the capital-spending trend (10). Each component shows exactly what it found and how many points it earned.
Why does the same P/E score differently for different companies?
Tech, software, and semiconductor companies structurally trade at higher multiples than the broad market because investors pay up for growth. The tool reads each company's industry classification from its SEC filings and grades tech names against tech-typical P/E bands, while everything else is graded against broad-market bands. The valuation note on each result says which yardstick was used.
Where does the data come from?
Financials, insider transactions, share counts, and offering filings come straight from SEC EDGAR, the same source as our filings feed. Prices and the 52-week range come from public market data. Scores are cached for a few hours, so very recent news may not be reflected yet.
Why does it say 'no data' for some components?
Not every company reports everything. Foreign companies listed in the US often file different forms (like 20-F instead of 10-K) and their insiders don't file Form 4s, and recently listed companies may not have four quarters of reported earnings yet. Components with no data are left out and the score is scaled to what's available.
Aren't offerings sometimes good for a company?
They can be. An offering raises cash that can fund real growth, and for some companies that trade works out well over time. The score still docks it because the dilution itself is certain and immediate, while the payoff is a bet. When the bet does pay off, it shows up in this tool anyway, as improving profitability, which is a separately scored component.
Is a high score a buy signal?
No. The score is an automated summary of public filings and price data, not investment advice and not a prediction. A high score means the company's recent filings look healthy on these specific measures. It says nothing about the price you'd pay being right, and it can miss news the filings haven't caught up to yet.