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The ones on the index. The reason is that our index is published daily, after the market close, and therefore incorporates all publicly available information to that point. Our reports are published no less frequently than quarterly, soon after a company releseases quarterly results.
A stock price moving up significantly, for example, would cause the equity appeal of the stock to diminish (all else being equal), since, a higher stock price would not translate into a higher intrinsic value estimate. It would simply narrow the gap if the stock is trading below our intrinsic value estimate, or increase the gap if the stock is trading above our intrinsic value estimate. Either way, the equity appeal deteriorates, and the new ranking would therefore be lower than that published previously.
Credit rankings tend to be a quite a bit more stickier than equity rankings and thus don't change as much. The reason is the following: Our credit rankings are not "relative value" rankings, which means the are not relevant to bond trading levels. Similar to credit rating agency ratings, they are fundamental rankings of credit quality, regardless of trading level.
In addition to the timeliness difference (see "Which ranks are more current, the ones on the index or on the reports?" in the FAQs), and partly because we don't want users to over-rely on the rankings on the more "stale" reports, we round all rankings on reports to the nearest, lowest 10th percentile. So, for example, if a company's credit rank was 37% when the report was published, it will have a credit ranking of 30% upon publication. We also think that we tend to remember simpler numbers easier, and glancing at rankings (between the credit and equity rank of a company and the credit and equity rank of its peer group for a total of four numbers), our minds have an easier time recalling these values in a more simplified value.
For all our companies in our index and industry sectors in which we group companies, we assign a "risk rating". These ratings can range from "Below Market Risk", to "Equal to Market Risk", to "Above Marker Risk", to "Very High Risk". Unlike our credit rankings which are derived from our proprietary fundamental analysis of five years of operating history and financial statements, and which rank credit worthiness of a company, our risk ratings attempt to place a value on "volatility" and "default risk". If one thinks of "financial" and "operating" leverage combining to result in aggregate risk of a company, or sector, our risk methodology attempts to do exactly that: using equity beta as a proxy for volatility, and Altman z (a default predictor tool) for default risk, the combination of these values gives us an aggregate "risk" score. For example, a company whose equity has an above-market beta, of say 1.2, may still rank as "Equal to Market Risk" or even "Below Market Risk" if its Altman z score is significantly greater than the market's (the greater the z-score the better). Alternatively, a low beta stock could have an "Above" or "Very High Risk" rating if its Altman z score is very low. This can be the case with certain smaller cap companies for example, that display little correlation to the market (and thus low beta), but whose credit profile (Altman z) is weak, and therefore should not be ignored when trying to establish an investor's risk tolerance level.
There are three different ways. First, if you are already in a company report and are curious about its peer group, simply look at the bottom of the third page, just above the disclosure statement. We list all the companies in the industry group. Second, if you are on the index page and while scrolling you see a company and you are curious about its industry sector, you can look at the name of the sector, and type that name on the index search field. For example, you notice that Advance Auto Parts (AAP) belongs to the retail sector. You can simply type "retail" in the search field of the index, and all the companies in our retail index will show up on the list. Third, when on the index, simply click on the field with the industry sector\'s name, and our industry sector report for this sector will open up. The report format is similar to our company reports and includes both cumulative sector data (financial performance, growth rates, profitability etc.) as well as a valuation comparison of the members of the peer group on page 3. Currenly, we update these reports at least once a month, but in the future we will be updating them more frequently. But remember, since our index is updated daily, using the second option above will give you the most current rankings, assuming that\'s all you\'re looking for.
We have a tearsheet primer document uploaded on our index page. As long as you clear the search field and hit enter, it should be the top document on the list with a dummy ticker of AAAAA. If for whatever reason you don't see it, simply type "tearsheet" on the search field and hit enter, it should come up. This document reviews different parts of the tearsheet, starting with the cover page, and explains what we show, why we show it, why we think it is relevant, and how it matters in our security analysis. If you have any additional questions or comments, please don't hesitate to ask us directly.
If you have a question we haven't answered, or an answer that makes no sense to you or you would like a further explanation please email us directly: dimitri.triantafyllides@sixtyguilders.com. We'll answer, and most likely add your question to our FAQ page so that more users can benefit from your initiative.