Total Assets

For banks, this includes interest earning financial instruments, principally commercial, real estate, consumer loans and leases; investment securities/trading accounts; cash/money market investments; and other owned assets. For industrial companies, they are current assets plus net plant and other non-current assets (intangibles & deferred items). For insurance companies, this includes total investments, cash and cash items, accrued investment income, Premiums due, deferred policy acquisition costs, property and equipment separate accounts and other assets. For real estate trusts and savings & loans, it is the sum of net investments in real estate and other assets.

Total Capitalization

Total capitalization is the sum of the stated values of a company's total shareholders' equity including preferred, common stock and debt obligations.

For real estate trusts and savings & loans, total capitalization is the sum of the stated values of a company's total shareholders' equity including preferred, common stock and debt obligations. For utilities, it is the sum of total capitalization (common-preferred-debt), accumulated deferred income taxes, accumulated investment tax credits, minority interest, contingency reserves and contributions in aid of construction.

Trend Line Resistance

Resistance trend lines are constructed by connecting the most recent, high points on the stock's chart. A valid Resistance Trend Line should be pointed DOWN. In situations that the trend lines are not pointed in the proper direction, a NA will appear instead of a value. "Second Opinion" constructs three Support and Resistance trend lines for each stock in the database. The reported values represent the trend line's value that is farthest away from the closing price of the stock provided that this number is less than a 20% differential. If the stock is more than 20% away from either the Support or Resistance trend line, the program will report the value of the next closest trend line and so on.

Trend Line Support

Support trend lines are constructed by connecting the most recent, significant lows on the stock's chart. To have a valid Support Trend Line, the slope of the line should be pointed UP. In situations that the trend lines are not pointed in the proper direction, a NA will appear instead of a value. "Second Opinion" constructs three Support and Resistance trend lines for each stock in the database. The reported values represent the trend line's value that is farthest away from the closing price of the stock provided that this number is less than a 20% differential. If the stock is more than 20% away from either the Support or Resistance trend line, the program will report the value of the next closest trend line and so on.

U

U/D Ratio (Up/Down Volume Ratio)

A 50-Day ratio of a stock's daily Up-Volume to daily Down-Volume. This ratio is calculated by dividing the total volume on days when a stock closed Up by the total volume on days it closes Down. Readings of 1.0 and greater denote Accumulation (Bullish), while readings under 1.0 signal Distribution (Bearish).

U/D Slope (Up/Down Volume Ratio Slope)

The Up/Down Volume Ratio Slope identifies the direction in which the Up/Down Volume Ratio is pointed. Although the raw U/D Volume Ratio is a valuable indicator, it is the direction or Slope of this indicator that forewarns of a change of trend in a stock's price.

V

Value Stocks

Value stocks are companies that are trading at a discount in the market relative to its future earnings potential. Typically these companies have had a series of problems, which has caused them to fall out of favor. The trick in selecting these stocks is to identify those whose problems were temporary, the core fundamentals of the company remain strong and the negative situation is turning around.

In order to qualify as a Value stock the company needs to have the following characteristics:

• Price to earnings ratio (P/E) ratio well below that of the market.
• The total assets of the company exceed $50,000,000
• The price is less than 4 times the book value.
• The current ratio is greater than 1.
• The price to cash flow is less than 12.
• The percentage of long term debt is less than 25% of the companies capitalization.
• The price to trailing twelve months sales per share is less than 6.

Volatility

A measurement of a stock's volatility during the preceding twenty days of activity. The reading reflects the average trading range of the stock as compared to the average closing price and is presented as a percentage.

W

Wilder's RSI (Wilder's 9 Day RSI Value)

RSI was developed by J. Welles Wilder to detect Overbought and Oversold conditions. The Index is comprised of three variables: 1) the average of all UP closes during a given period; 2) the average of all Down closes during the same period; and 3) the length of the period in days over which these averages are taken. RSI measures the degree of strength left in a price trend. If Price has been declining and RSI drops to 30 or lower, traders should be alerted to a probable reversal of the downtrend, since momentum would appear to be losing its strength. If RSI moves above 70 as Price rises, an intermediate top is usually imminent. "Second Opinion" uses a nine day period when computing RSI.

Y

YrHigh/YrLow (Year High / Year Low)

The intraday High and Low for the trailing twelve month period, adjusted for any stock splits.