Contents
The Actions Menu is available at the top of the table and gives you access different tasks related to the table. The menu gives access to the ability to create custom metrics and export data from the table. It also gives you quick access to actions on items you have selected in the left hand Navigation Panel and ticker selected in the table. This menu is context specific. The items in the action menu will change depending on what type of item you have selected in the Navigation Panel or if a ticker is highlighted in the table. Additional actions are added when the item you select in the Navigation Panel is a portfolio, watchlist or a screener or a ticker is highlighted in the table.
The screenshot below shows the default menu when a folder is selected under World in the Navigation Panel.
The screenshot below shows an example of the menu when a ticker is selected when Quotes is selected. Note the addition of a ticker specific menu for the selected ticker, in this case Apple (AAPL).
This screenshot shows an example of the menu when Portfolios are selected, it displays specific portfolio options.
If a specific item is selected in the navigation menu, it will also display quick action items related to the item as seen in this example below where “Bill Gates” is the portfolio selected in the navigation menu.
If a specific ticker is selected in the table, it will also display quick action items related to the item as seen in this example below where “AAPL” is the ticker selected in the table. This same menu will appear when a ticker is selected for watchlists as well as screeners.
This screenshot shows an example of the menu when Watchlists are selected, it displays specific watchlist options.
If a specific watchlist is selected in the navigation menu, it will also display quick action items related to the watchlist as seen in this example below where “Sample Watchlist” is the watchlist selected in the navigation menu.
This screenshot shows an example of the menu when Screeners are selected, it displays specific screener options.
If a specific screener is selected in the navigation menu, it will also display quick action items related to the screener as seen in this example below where “GARP Screener” is the screener selected in the navigation menu.
Selecting the Update View option will display the update view window where you manipulate the view and add or remove columns to the selected view.
The Custom Metric facility allows you to create new metrics from existing Stock Rover metrics. The possibilities range from creating a simple ratio of two existing metrics you often compare to creating a brand new formula from our existing metrics. The Custom metrics facility works very similar to the Equation Screener in the Stock Rover Screening facility. The custom metrics facility allows you to use arithmetic operators (+-*/), comparison symbols (>, <, >=, <=, =), parenthesis, Boolean operators (and, or), and functions like ifnull as well. The section below will describe some the different functions that can be used.
Note: To help you learn more about Custom Metrics, we have also created a guide for creating Custom Metrics. It is available in PDF and Word format.
Note: Custom Metrics are available for Premium Plus users only.
The first screenshot below shows how you can access the facility:
This will display a new window, where you can create a new metric. To start, give the metric a name, a description, and select a display format (decimal value, percent, or dollar value). The screenshot below, shows all the display format options.
Below is an example of a simple custom metric that compares a stock’s price to the mean consensus target price put out by anaylsts. We will call it Price to Mean Consensus Target(%).
Then enter the formula for your custom metric into the formula box. You can add metrics using the ‘Quick Search’ menu on the right (search or browse to the metric you want), or simply by typing the metric’s name into the formula box, and selecting from the menu that appears, as shown here:
Create equations with the same formatting that you would in a spreadsheet cell, using symbols like * / + – = with parentheses as needed. Once you have your equation entered, make sure it works using the ‘Test’ button at the top of the metric editor. You can see more detail and you can also change your test ticker through the ‘Sample Values’ box, highlighed by the red arrow in the screenshot below.
If at any time you make edits that you want to reverse, you can click the ‘Undo’ button to reverse each change made, one by one. To go in the other direction and restore changes after using the ‘Undo’ button, click on the ‘Redo’ button as needed. Both buttons are highlighted below.
Click Create and you can then use this metric like any other in Stock Rover. For example, here is the new metric show in the table:
After a custom metric is added to a view you can right-click on the column and select ‘Update Custom Metric’ to make changes or ‘Delete Custom Metric’ to delete the metric all together.
Here is a list of functions available in the custom metric and equation screener facilities:
Listed below are three different examples of custom metrics. The second example includes a screenshot of what the example looks like in the Custom Metric editor. Note that the tag inside the brackets indicates the time period to use for each metric in the expression. For example, Now refers to the most current trailing twelve month period. TTM1 refers to the trailing twelve month period one year ago, so 12 month prior to the Now period. Likewise TTM2 refers to the trailing twelve month period two years ago. To specify calender years, you would use an tag like Y2, to specify the calendar year two years ago.
Long Term Debt over Operating Income
"Long Term Debt [Now]" / "Operating Income[Now]"
Return on Invested Capital vs. Prior 3 Year’s Average
"ROIC[Now]" -(( "ROIC [TTM1] " + "ROIC [TTM2] " + "ROIC [TTM3] " )/3)
Here is what the custom metric looks like in the interface:
The Graham Number
The Graham Number is a figure that measures a stock’s fundamental value by taking into account the company’s earnings per share and book value per share. The Graham number is the upper bound of the price range that a defensive investor should pay for the stock. According to the theory, any stock price below the Graham number is considered undervalued and thus worth investing in. The formula is as follows:
Square Root (22.5 x Earnings per share x Book Value per share)
Custom Metric when Negative Numbers need to be Ignored
In this example, we want to take the square root of a number, but the POW function only accepts number greater than or equal to zero. So to ensure the number we pass to POW is positive, we use a Case statement inside of the POW function. It is a little tricky, but it does the job. The formula is as follows:
100 * pow(case when ("EPS [Now]" – "EPS [Y5]") / "EPS [Y5]" <= 0 then null else ("EPS [Now]" - "EPS [Y5]") / "EPS [Y5]" end, 1/5) - 1
To group the stocks in the Table by sector, industry, color, or tag, click the ‘Actions’ button in the table’s toolbar and mouseover ‘Group By’ and select from the menu.
If you set up any filters on your columns, see filtering on columns for more information on filters, you can then save these filters as a screener. To save the filters as a screener, click the ‘Actions’ button in the table’s toolbar and mouseover ‘Save As’ and select ‘Save Filters as Screener’ from the menu.
This will open a new create screener window as seen below.
To save the data set in the table as a watchlist or portfolio, click the ‘Actions’ button in the table’s toolbar and mouseover ‘Save As’ and select either option from the menu.
To export the data that is displayed in the Table to a csv file, click the ‘Actions’ button in the Table’s toolbar, mouseover ‘Save as’ and select ‘Export Table as CSV File’.
This will download all displayed tickers and columns to a csv file in the folder designated by your browser. The file will only contain the tickers displayed in the Table, so if there are tickers spread out over multiple pages, you will have to export each page individually. Please note that range-style graphical columns (such as 52-wk range) will display the lower and upper limit values, whereas histogram-style graphical columns are unable to be exported and so will show a blank value.
To print the data in the Table, click the ‘Actions’ button in the table’s toolbar and select ‘Print’.
This will open a new tab in your browser’s window with the data from the Table in an easy-to-print format. Just click the ‘Print’ button on this page to print the data. Note that you can only print 100 rows at a time. If the printed data is more than one page, we unfortunately are not able to have the column headers print at the top of each page.