Our Methodology

The Safety Score is a proprietary composite metric that measures a company's financial stability and dividend reliability on a scale of 0 to 100. It evaluates multiple dimensions of financial health to answer one core question: how resilient is this company's dividend and balance sheet?

Key areas of analysis include debt management relative to earnings, the sustainability of dividend payments, interest coverage capacity, and the consistency of the company's dividend track record over time. All thresholds are calibrated to sector-specific benchmarks - a REIT, for example, is evaluated differently than a technology company - ensuring fair comparisons within each industry.

Higher Safety Scores indicate stronger financial foundations and lower risk of dividend cuts or financial distress.

The Quality Score assesses overall business quality by combining financial safety with profitability, competitive positioning, and growth consistency. Scored from 0 to 100, it helps investors identify companies with durable competitive advantages and strong fundamentals.

The score incorporates sector-relative profitability measures - using the most appropriate margin metric for each industry - alongside indicators of competitive moat strength and earnings growth stability. Companies are compared against peers in the same industry to ensure meaningful rankings.

A high Quality Score signals a business that generates consistent, above-average returns with a defensible market position, making it a useful filter for long-term investment research.

GNG Research estimates fair value for each company using multiple valuation approaches, including discounted cash flow analysis and historical multiples-based methods. The system automatically selects the most appropriate methods based on a company's sector, financial profile, and available data, then blends them into a single fair value estimate.

Stocks are assigned one of seven ratings based on how the current market price compares to the calculated fair value: Ultra Value Buy, Very Strong Buy, Strong Buy, Good Buy, Reasonable Buy, Hold, and Trim/Sell. The rating thresholds incorporate the company's Quality Score to build in a margin of safety - higher-quality companies receive tighter buy zones because their earnings are more predictable.

Each stock page displays the individual fair value estimates from each method used, along with the blended result and corresponding rating, giving investors full transparency into the valuation process.

In addition to proprietary scores, each company page displays three widely-recognized financial health indicators:

• Piotroski F-Score (0-9):A 9-point accounting quality score that evaluates profitability, leverage, liquidity, and operating efficiency. Scores of 7-9 indicate high quality.
• Altman Z-Score:A bankruptcy risk indicator combining five financial ratios. Scores above 2.99 suggest low bankruptcy risk, while scores below 1.81 indicate financial distress.
• Beneish M-Score:An earnings manipulation detector using eight accounting signals. Scores below -2.22 suggest legitimate financial reporting.

GNG Research aggregates financial data from institutional-grade providers including Alpha Vantage, covering price history, dividends, financial statements, and earnings data. All historical data is adjusted for stock splits and corporate actions.

• Coverage: 4,500+ actively traded U.S. companies
• Price history: Complete data from 1999 to present
• Metrics calculated: 100+ financial ratios and indicators per company
• Update frequency: Daily after market close (scores, valuations, and metrics)
• Financial statements: Trailing twelve months plus 5 years of annual data