Through our ongoing data research, which began in 1963, we have developed powerful statistics, ratings, and rankings that help reveal leading and lagging stocks before they make their big moves.

ACCUMULATION/DISTRIBUTION RATING®

The Acc/Dis Rating® tracks the relative degree of institutional buying (accumulation) and selling (distribution) in a particular stock over the past 13 weeks, which shows where money is flowing. The Acc/Dis Rating® is a technical rating based on price and volume statistics. The numerical values range from +100 to −100. Positive ratings from +100 to 0 mean a stock has been showing accumulation. Negative ratings from −1 to −10 are neutral, and ratings below −10 mean a stock has been under distribution. A letter rating is also provided for quick interpretation, with A being best and E being worst.

COMPOSITE RATING

The Composite Rating combines the EPS Rank, Relative Strength Rating, Industry Group Rank, SMR Rating, Accumulation/Distribution Rating, and the stock’s percent off its 52-week high. More weight is placed on the EPS Rank and Relative Strength Rating. The resulting rating of technical and fundamental factors is compared with all other stocks in the trading country and assigned a rating from 1 to 99, with 99 being the best. A rating of 90 means the stock has outperformed 90% of all other stocks in the trading country.

DATAGRAPH RATING

By looking at historical weekly trends, the Datagraph Rating is the easiest way to get an overall picture of a stock, as it incorporates multiple fundamental and technical characteristics that influence stock prices. The rating is based on a proprietary formula that assigns certain weights to reported earnings capitalization, sponsorship, relative strength, price/volume characteristics, industry group rank, and other factors. Each stock is assigned a rank from 1 to 99, the best being 99. The Datagraph Rating is available as a country-specific rating, comparing all stocks in a trading country, or as a global rating, comparing all stocks in the O’Neil universe.

EPS RANK

This rank is a single earnings measure that gives insight into one of the most important factors of evaluating a stock – earnings per share. Four different fundamental factors are calculated: the percent increase in the most recent quarter versus a year ago; the percent increase in the prior period versus the same quarter a year ago; the five-year earnings growth rate (three-year earnings growth rate if five-year earnings growth rate is unavailable); and the earnings stability factor. These factors are ranked separately and weighted. The result is then ranked on a scale from 1 to 99, with 99 being the highest.

INDUSTRY GROUP RANK

The Industry Group Rank is a technical tool for identifying both group strength and rotation. It looks at above-average stocks in each group, as well as performance of the entire group against all other groups in the database. Separate weightings are used for different time periods, and groups are ranked from 1 to 197, (depending on trading country), the best group being 1. Industry Group Rank is available as a trading country rank or as a global rank, comparing all industries across all countries.

INSTITUTIONAL SPONSORSHIP RATING

This rating measures the quality of a stock’s institutional sponsorship, giving preference to stocks that are owned by high-performing funds. To obtain the Institutional Sponsorship Rating, William O’Neil + Company averages the three-year performance of all mutual funds owning a stock, plus the trend in recent quarters of the number of funds. The rating scale ranges from A to E.

RELATIVE STRENGTH RATING

This technical tool is one of the most popular ways for clients to see the market’s top performers. The Relative Strength Rating is the result of calculating a stock’s percentage price change over the last 12 months. A 40% weight is assigned to the latest three-month period; the remaining three quarters each receive 20% weight. All stocks are arranged in order of greatest price percentage change and assigned a percentile rank from 99 (highest) to 1 (lowest).

SMR RATING®

Our SMR Rating® identifies companies with superior sales growth, profit margins, and return on equity ratios. This data item combines four fundamental factors into one simple “A” to “E” rating system, with A being best and E being worst. The SMR Rating® combines a company’s sales growth rate over the last three quarters, pretax profit margins, after-tax profit margins, and ROE. Sales growth and after-tax margins are calculated using quarterly figures, while ROE and pretax margins are calculated using annual figures. All four factors take into account acceleration.

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