Quarterly Signal Scores
Quarterly signal scores are updated with earnings reports and use the most recent quarterly financial data from yfinance. Unlike daily-signal-scores, these scores change infrequently and reflect fundamental business health rather than market sentiment.
Quality / Moat Score
Quote
“A truly great business must have an enduring ‘moat’ that protects excellent returns on invested capital.”
— Warren Buffett
The quality score (also called the moat score) measures fundamental strength across profitability, efficiency, and cash generation. Z-scores are computed within sectors when sufficient peers exist (3 or more); otherwise falls back to index-level grouping.
Component breakdown
| Component | Source | Method |
|---|---|---|
| Gross Margin | Quarterly financials | z-score within sector |
| ROE | Return on equity | z-score within sector |
| Operating Margin | Quarterly financials | z-score within sector |
| Leverage | Debt-to-equity | Inverted z-score (lower debt = higher) |
| FCF Yield | Free cash flow / market cap | z-score within sector |
Composite quality formula
Interpretation: High score = superior profitability, low debt, strong cash generation. Scores > 1.0 indicate clear fundamental superiority.
Health Warnings
Health warnings are binary flags derived from quarterly balance sheet data. Stocks with 2 or more flags appear in the health warnings table on the dashboard.
Flag definitions
| Flag | Condition | Color | Risk |
|---|---|---|---|
| Liq (Liquidity) | Current ratio < 1.0 | Blue | Cannot cover short-term obligations |
| Lev (Leverage) | Debt/Equity > 200% | Orange | Excessive debt burden |
| Cash (Cash Burn) | Free cash flow < 0 | Red | Consuming cash, not generating it |
| Decl (Decline) | Revenue AND margin both falling QoQ | Purple | Deteriorating business fundamentals |
Risk level classification
| Flags | Risk Level |
|---|---|
| 0 | Healthy |
| 1 | Watch |
| 2 | Warning |
| 3+ | Critical |
Critical Signal
Low quality score + many health flags = strong caution signal. Critical-level stocks may face dividend cuts, credit downgrades, or restructuring. Cross-reference with daily-signal-scores divergence alerts.
Governance Risk Score
Quote
“Good corporate governance is about having the right processes to make and implement decisions.”
— Robert Monks, Corporate Governance (1995)
A composite of ISS-style risk dimensions sourced from yfinance quarterly data. This score measures the quality of corporate governance practices.
Sub-score breakdown
| Sub-Score | What it measures | Scale |
|---|---|---|
| Audit Risk | Financial reporting integrity | 1 (low) – 10 (high risk) |
| Board Risk | Board independence and effectiveness | 1 – 10 |
| Compensation Risk | Executive pay alignment with shareholders | 1 – 10 |
| Shareholder Rights Risk | Minority shareholder protections | 1 – 10 |
Composite governance formula (inverted so higher = better)
Scale: 0 (worst governance) – 10 (best governance). Scores below 5 warrant attention.
ESG Connection
Governance risk is one pillar of ESG evaluation. For broader ESG data integration including environmental and social scores, see and esg-and-sustainability.
Related
- daily-signal-scores for market-driven daily scores
- scoring-methodology for the z-score and ranking mathematics
- factor-profile-and-composition for how quarterly scores feed the radar chart
- data-sources-and-refresh for quarterly data refresh timing