This document defines and describes various ratings and rankings used to evaluate stocks, including accumulation/distribution ratings that track institutional buying and selling trends, O'Neil Composite ratings that combine multiple factors into one rating, earnings per share ratings that measure earnings growth and stability, and industry group rankings that compare stocks within an industry. These ratings provide insights into stocks' performance, fundamentals, and trends to help analyze their potential.

1. Ratings and Rankings
Name Description
Accumulation/ Calculated as an exponential moving average of inter- and intra-day price and volume statistics to track the relative
Distribution degree of institutional buying (accumulation) and selling (distribution) in a particular stock over the last 13 weeks. The
Number Rating 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. The
effect of a single day’s trading becomes insignificant after about 60 days.
Accumulation/ The letter representation of the Accumulation/Distribution Number Rating; ranges from A to E.
Distribution Greater than or equal to +35 = A Greater than or equal to +5 = B Greater than or equal to −10 = C
Letter Rating Greater than or equal to −30 = D Less than −30 = E
The O’Neil Combines EPS Rating, Relative Strength Rating, Industry Group Relative Strength Rating, SMR® Rating,
Composite™ Accumulation/ Distribution Rating and the stock’s percent off its 52-week high into one rating. More weight is placed
on EPS and RS Ratings. The resulting rating is compared against all other stocks in the database 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.
Datagraph A rating that blends the multiple elements known to impact stock price, and is based on a proprietary formula that
Rating assigns certain weights to reported earnings (primary operating), capitalization, sponsorship, relative strength, price/
volume characteristics, group rank, and other factors. Each stock is assigned a percentile rank from 1 to 99 with 99
being the best.
Earnings Per Measures a company’s earnings per share growth over the last five years in addition to the stability of that growth
Share Rating compared to all other companies in the database. Four different factors are calculated: the percent increase in the
most recent quarter versus the same quarter a year ago, the percent increase in the prior quarter 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, 99 being the highest. For example, a rating of 70 means the company had a better earnings
record than 70% of all companies.
Holdings Rank™ Measures the dollar value of an individual stock position against the overall portfolio for each quarter. All holdings are
arranged in order of greatest dollar value and are assigned a percentile rank from 1 to 99 with 99 being the highest.
Industry Group Obtained by calculating the least-squares curve fit of summed prices on above-average stocks within its industry
Rank group, in addition to a calculation on all companies within the group. Separate weightings are used for different time
periods. Groups are ranked from 1 to 197 with 1 being the best group.
Relative Strength Calculation of a stock’s price percent change over the last 12 months, with 40% weight assigned to the latest three-
Rating month period and 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). For example, a value of 85
means the stock has outperformed 85% of all other stocks in our database.
SMR (Sales, Measures the sales growth, profitability, and efficiency of a company relative to all other companies in our database.
Margin, and It combines four fundamental calculations: a company’s sales growth rate over the last three quarters, pre-tax profit
ROE) Letter margins, after-tax profit margins, and ROE. Sales growth and after-tax margins are calculated using quarterly figures
Rating while ROE and pre-tax margins are calculated using annual figures. All four factors take into account acceleration (rate
of increase). The ratings range from A to E (A being the best, representing the top 20 percent of all stocks).
Sponsorship Averages the three-year performance of all mutual funds owning the stock plus trend in recent quarters of the number
Rating of funds owning the stock. The rating scale ranges from A to E (A=Best, E=Worst). An N/A appears if not enough data
is available to calculate a rating.
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