Revised Stock, Mutual Fund Tables Easier to Read, Offer More Relevant Data
The Times has revised its stock and mutual fund listings. The aim is to make the data easier to read and more relevant.
Among the key changes in the tables, which appear today beginning on C9:
* Type has been made more readable where possible.
* Stocks now are priced in decimals rather than fractions.
* More Southern California stocks are shown in special tables both daily and on Sunday.
* More well-known stocks are shown in special highlighted tables both daily and on Sunday.
* Raw trading volume figures are no longer shown for individual stocks in the A-to-Z stock tables. Instead, a new figure has been substituted: the percentage by which the previous day’s volume differed from the stock’s average daily volume over the last 65 days.
* A new daily “volume surge” table on the Daily Market Roundup page (on C9 today) shows stocks with unusually large increases in trading activity.
* Tables showing well-known and Southern California-based stocks now include more information, including a “projected price-to-earnings ratio.”
* New tables have been added to show more data on the largest stock and bond mutual funds, including year-to-date total returns.
* More stock mutual funds are now listed daily, and each fund’s daily change is expressed in percentage terms rather than in dollars and cents.
* Other than the largest bond mutual funds, daily price information is no longer shown for bond funds. However, the largest-bond-funds table accounts for the vast majority of bond fund assets.
* More data are shown for the largest Nasdaq and Amex stocks.
The following are answers to common questions investors may have about the changes.
We are interested in reader reaction to the tables. If you have any questions or comments, e-mail daniel.gaines@latimes.com, or leave a voicemail message at: (213) 237-4557.
Question: Why does The Times now publish stock prices in decimals rather than fractions?
Answer: All U.S. stock markets will switch to decimals from fractions, beginning in mid-2000.
The Times is switching ahead of the markets because many readers have indicated their preference for decimals.
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Q: How are mutual fund names now abbreviated?
A: The Times has used mutual fund data from Lipper Analytical on most tables in the past. It will now use data from Morningstar Inc. The two services abbreviate fund names differently. In a few cases, the differences will change the order mutual funds and fund families appear in the table.
In particular, Morningstar has grouped most classes of funds under a single family name. For example, Merrill Lynch A, B, C and D funds now appear under a single header, Merrill Lynch.
Also, investors should note that Morningstar places funds managed by T Rowe Price under “T”. Lipper had placed it under “P” because they are also known as the Price Funds. Readers may notice other differences as well.
All major Vanguard funds, including the index funds, are listed under the single Vanguard header.
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Q: Why do you now show daily percentage change in each fund’s share price, not the change in dollars and cents per share?
A: We know that many fund investors are interested either in a fund’s share value (the NAV, or net asset value per share) or how much the fund moved on a particular day.
By expressing that move in percentage terms now, rather than in dollars and cents per share, the new tables will allow investors to quickly see which funds have moved significantly.
Readers who track the total value of their portfolios daily can still do so, of course. Say you own 1,000 shares of a fund with a current NAV of $12. Your holdings are worth $12,000. With the daily percentage gain or loss in the table, you can instantly see how much your holdings rose or fell the previous day.
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Q: Why do you publish more equity mutual funds than bond mutual funds daily?
A: Bond fund values generally change little on a day-to-day basis. What’s more, most investors regard investments in bond funds as a stable portion of their portfolio and don’t check prices daily, as they might for stock funds.
The Times is now publishing data on the largest bond funds each day, which cover the vast majority of bond fund assets.
Data on most bond funds are still published weekly, on Sundays.
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Q: What is the “Vol. %” figure that has been added to the daily stock tables?
A: This is a new calculation that will generally be more useful to most investors than a raw volume figure.
The “volume percentage” figure compares the previous day’s volume in a stock to its average daily volume for the last 65 trading days.
For example, a figure of “+50” means 50% more shares traded hands the previous day than the average of the previous 65 days. “-50” means half as many shares traded than the 65-day average. An equal (=) sign is used when volume is less than 1% above or below the 65-day average.
The volume-percentage figure takes the place of the daily volume figure, which The Times has dropped from its tables.
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Q: Why focus on the percentage change in volume rather than the actual number of shares traded, which had been in The Times’ tables?
A: Volume changes can be as important as price changes when evaluating stocks, because volume changes can indicate more--or less--interest in a stock.
For example, experienced investors take price movements more seriously when larger-than-normal numbers of shares have traded hands as well. By contrast, when volume is light, a price change may be less significant because fewer investors may have felt strongly about the stock.
Because “normal” volume is different for every stock and changes over time, investors arguably cannot tell much from raw daily volume figures.
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Q: How can I track the stocks showing the largest daily percentage increases in trading volume?
A: The Daily Market Roundup, which today appears on C9, includes special tables showing the stocks with the largest volume increases.
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Q: What criteria are used to decide what is a “Southern California company” for the new Southern California stock tables?
A: The stocks listed in the Southern California “gainers” and “losers” tables are based primarily on companies listed on the major markets that report their headquarters as being in Southern California in official filings.
Some companies with significant management presence in Southern California are included even if an official headquarters is elsewhere.
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Q: Why do you now combine Nasdaq and Amex stocks in one listing?
A: The American Stock Exchange now is a unit of Nasdaq, even though it is a separate marketplace. Also, the number of stocks that trade on the Amex is tiny compared with the number of Nasdaq stocks.
The main issue for investors is whether a stock has met the requirements to be traded on the NYSE, Amex or Nasdaq. The Times does not include in its tables thinly traded stocks on unregulated markets, such as the OTC Bulletin Board or the pink sheets.
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Q: What is the PPE ratio?
A: This is a new figure The Times is adding in the highlighted tables for widely known stocks and other stocks in the news.
The PPE, or projected price-to-earnings ratio, is the current stock price divided by the stock’s estimated earnings per share over the coming 12 months. The earnings estimate used to calculate the PPE is Wall Street analysts’ consensus estimate for a particular stock, as compiled by IBES International.
Thus, the PPE will show the stock’s price relative to the earnings analysts expect--though of course, estimates can be wrong.
