Research notes
Short pieces on the mechanics of reading a company: which inputs a valuation actually turns on, why two correct sources print different figures for the same ratio, and what a number stops being able to tell you. Every figure in them is either computed from a filing we name or labelled as illustrative arithmetic.
Capital structure
A dividend growth streak read from filed cash tops out at 9 years. Read per share from the dividend record, 376 US listings reach 10 or more, the longest 55.
Cost of capital
DCF discount rate sensitivity, measured on a two-stage model you can check by hand: one point on the rate moves the answer about three times as far as growth.
Financial health
Across 2,271 US companies holding an interest coverage ratio on 2026-09-07 the median was 1.65 times, below Damodaran's 3.0 investment-grade floor.
What counts as a good current ratio: 2,044 of 4,399 US listings holding one cleared Graham's 2.0 on 2026-09-07. Apple has failed it ten years.
Forensic scores
Piotroski's F-Score across 3,659 US companies on 2026-09-07: a median of 4 of 9, a 75th percentile of 6, and 14 listings in the whole pool scoring nine.
Z-Score financial analysis alongside Piotroski and Beneish: of 3,162 US listings carrying all three on 2026-09-07, 1,915 are flagged by one and 172 by all.
The Altman Z-Score is withheld for 865 companies on the 2026-09-07 build, and printed for utilities, where three quarters of the cohort score as distressed.
On 2026-09-07 the Beneish M-Score's 90th percentile across 3,054 US companies was -1.07 and the 75th was -2.21, so its one cutoff sits between them.
What the Altman Z-Score reads across 2,773 US companies on 2026-09-07: a median of 2.37, inside Altman's grey zone, and a 25th percentile of 0.41.
Growth quality
Earnings per share growth ran negative for 312 of the 1,459 US listings holding both five-year rates on 2026-09-07, while their revenue compounded upward.
Intrinsic value
What a net-net means, counted: between 261 and 326 US listings traded below net current asset value on 2026-09-07, at least half priced under 1.50 dollars.
Profitability margins
Ten filed years of Walmart's income statement against its 2026-09-07 sector cohort: net margin just above the median, return on assets at the third quartile.
Gross margin vs operating margin vs net margin, on the 2026-09-07 build, came from cohorts of 2,401, 3,164 and 3,905 companies. They are not one staircase.
How the operating profit margin is calculated here, and where it lands: a median of 3.98 percent across 3,164 US companies on the 2026-09-07 build.
What a US profit margin is, measured: the median was 3.79 percent across 3,905 companies on the 2026-09-07 build, and the ninth decile was 27.47 percent.
What a good gross margin is depends on the sector: medians on the 2026-09-07 build ran from 26.54 percent in energy to 61.80 percent in healthcare.
Gross margin stability over ten filed years for eight companies: the widest band is 11.74 points, the narrowest 1.51, and the thinnest margins are steadiest.
Apple's company profit margin over ten filed years against the 2026-09-07 technology cohort: gross is mid-pack, operating and net in the top decile.
Returns on capital
What a good return on assets is depends on where a company files: the 2026-09-07 median was minus 29.70 percent in healthcare and plus 2.40 in utilities.
The ROE formula divides by equity, so debt lifts it. Of 658 US listings reporting 20 percent or more on 2026-09-07, 248 owe more than they own.
Risk
A beta's stock definition is its window. Ours is 5.04 years, 2021-08-12 to 2026-08-26, so no risk figure here can contain 2020 or 2008.
Screening workflow
This stock market screener offered 125 filterable fields on 2026-09-13. Coverage runs from 1,018 listings to 5,207, and 311 more sit outside the count.
Statement literacy
TTM vs annual financial ratios: the census labels 86 of 129 figures as filed, and 23 of those carry a mixed period because the stored value prefers a TTM ratio.
Industry average financial ratios as medians: sixteen metrics across eleven sectors on the 2026-09-07 build, with the sample behind each cell and four blanks.
What enterprise value means for a bank is nothing, so we do not print it. Ask for thirteen ratios on JPMorgan Chase and three come back as numbers.
Valuation multiples
A good P/E ratio is one of 22 thresholds in a registry of 127 metrics. The other 105 carry none, and twelve of the 22 are labelled convention, not evidence.
What a good price to book ratio is, measured: 994 of the 3,972 US listings holding one traded below book value on 2026-09-07, and 827 below tangible book.
The PEG ratio formula returns a value for 1,018 of 5,518 US listings on 2026-09-13. None is negative, and the other 3,989 are refused with a reason.
The average P/E ratio in the US market is 21.16 across 1,994 companies on 2026-09-07. An independent recount of a different population puts it near 20.9.
No listing in this pool carries a negative P/E ratio, because it is withheld when earnings are not positive. On 2026-09-07, 2,218 US listings lost money.
What FCF yield says that earnings yield does not: on 2026-09-07, 496 US listings lost money with positive free cash flow and 334 made money while burning it.
The highest P/E ratio stocks on 2026-09-07 trade at ordinary prices with almost no earnings: 30 of the 42 that published a ratio imply EPS under ten cents.
On 2026-09-13, 26 US listings carried a trailing P/E of 30 or more with a Shiller CAPE below 12, and 24 ran the other way. The ratio is inflation adjusted now.
Value investing method
A value investing strategy needs a rule for figures that do not fit. A bank's gross margin is refused, its return on assets is ranked only inside financials.
Four deep value filters run in sequence against 5,257 US listings on 2026-09-07 leave two. The third filter removes 58 companies for having no score at all.
An Apple fundamental analysis run backwards over ten 10-K filings: four of eight numeric guardrails never fired once, and two broke in most years on file.
A Benjamin Graham stock screener run against 5,257 US listings on 2026-09-07 leaves 84 companies, 12 of which pay a dividend. The biggest cut is missing data.
This product filters on 125 fundamental analysis tools and will run only eight backwards over filed history. 34 need a price and 87 cannot be rebuilt.
Worked theses
A worked example on Intel. A gross margin condition at 50 was false in none of the six filed years to FY2021 and in every one of the four since.
A worked example that ends badly. Three of the four figures a reader would most want to watch on Johnson & Johnson cannot be tested against its filings.
A worked example on Kraft Heinz. The operating margin swung 61.94 points across eleven filed years while the gross margin moved inside 5.05 of them.
A worked example on Ulta Beauty. Gross margin held near 39 percent for five filed years while operating margin fell 3.68 points from its FY2022 peak.
Working capital
Return on assets is net margin times the total asset turnover ratio. On the 2026-09-07 build the top sector on margin ranked eighth on return on assets.
See our methodology for how the product reads a filing and what it refuses to compute.