Frequently Asked Questions

ValueMarkers is a fundamental analysis platform for value investors. It combines 120 financial indicators, intrinsic value calculations (DCF, Graham Number), and three independent quality frameworks (Piotroski, Altman, Beneish) across 73 global exchanges. Unlike simple screeners, ValueMarkers gives every stock a composite VM Score and an instant verdict on whether it is trading above or below its intrinsic value. It is designed for investors who want institutional-grade analysis without paying for a Bloomberg terminal.

Start by selecting a preset strategy - Graham Defensive, Buffett Quality, or any of the 8 guru-inspired presets - or build your own filter set using the advanced filter panel. On the Analyst plan, you can also describe what you're looking for in plain English: "profitable tech stocks with low debt and insider buying." Results are sorted by VM Score by default, with Margin of Safety shown as a column so you can immediately see which stocks are most undervalued. Click any row to see the full stock analysis page.

The VM Score (0-100) is a weighted composite of 10 fundamental analysis categories. A score of 70+ indicates strong fundamentals across most categories; 40-69 is average; below 40 suggests weak fundamentals or high valuation risk. The score is relative - it compares a stock against all others in our database by percentile rank. A high VM Score does not mean a stock will go up, but it does mean it has strong fundamentals relative to its peers. Always use it alongside the Margin of Safety for context.

Intrinsic value is an estimate of what a stock is truly worth, independent of its current market price. ValueMarkers uses a Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) model as the primary method: we project future free cash flows and discount them back to today at an appropriate rate. We also show the Graham Number (a conservative estimate based on earnings and book value) as a secondary reference. The Margin of Safety is the percentage difference between intrinsic value and market price - a positive margin means the stock appears undervalued.

Quotes are refreshed every 5 minutes during market hours. Financial ratios and computed scores are refreshed every 6 hours. Full financial statements (income, balance, cash flow) are refreshed daily at market close. Analyst estimates and earnings calendars are refreshed daily. News is refreshed every hour. Analyst+ users can trigger a manual refresh at any time from the stock page.

Yes. The free Explorer plan gives you access to 30 core financial indicators across 4 major exchanges, the Quality Triple Check (Piotroski, Altman, Beneish), intrinsic value and margin of safety for every stock, one watchlist, and community thesis reading. The Analyst plan ($29/mo monthly, $24/mo annual) unlocks all 120 indicators, all 73 global exchanges, portfolio tracking, alerts, and community publishing. Professional ($99/mo monthly, $49/mo annual) adds AI analysis, insider trading data, 30 years of history, and backtesting.

From any stock page, click the bookmark icon or "+ Add to Watchlist" button. On the free plan, you get one watchlist with up to 10 stocks. Analyst plans allow 10 watchlists with 100 stocks each. You can view all your watchlists at /watchlists, where you'll see current prices, VM Scores, and Margin of Safety for every tracked stock at a glance. Analyst+ users also receive an optional weekly email digest of watchlist performance every Monday.

Free users can screen stocks on NYSE and NASDAQ. Analyst and Professional users get access to all 73 supported global exchanges including NYSE, NASDAQ, LSE (London), Euronext, Frankfurt (XETRA), Tokyo (TSE), Hong Kong (HKEX), Shanghai (SSE), Toronto (TSX), ASX (Australia), BSE (Bombay), NSE (India), SGX (Singapore), Tadawul (Saudi Arabia), and JSE (South Africa), plus many more. All 73 exchanges are covered by the Quality Triple Check and intrinsic value calculations.

The Quality Triple Check runs three independent financial health frameworks on every stock: the Piotroski F-Score (financial strength), Altman Z-Score (bankruptcy risk), and Beneish M-Score (earnings manipulation risk). Each comes from decades of peer-reviewed academic research. Together they give you three different lenses on a stock's quality and integrity. A stock that scores well on all three is unlikely to be financially distressed or reporting misleading numbers.

The Piotroski F-Score (0-9) was developed by accounting professor Joseph Piotroski in 2000. It evaluates 9 binary criteria across three areas: profitability (positive ROA, positive operating cash flow, improving ROA, cash flow > net income), leverage (lower debt ratio, higher current ratio, no new share issuance), and efficiency (improving gross margin, improving asset turnover). Each criterion is worth 1 point. Scores of 7-9 indicate strong fundamentals; 4-6 is average; 0-3 is weak.

The Altman Z-Score was created by Edward Altman in 1968 to predict corporate bankruptcy. It combines 5 financial ratios (working capital/assets, retained earnings/assets, EBIT/assets, market cap/liabilities, revenue/assets) into a single score. A score above 2.99 is the "safe zone," 1.81-2.99 is the "grey zone" (some bankruptcy risk), and below 1.81 is the "distress zone" (significant bankruptcy risk). Note: the Z-Score was designed for manufacturing companies; interpret with caution for financials and utilities.

The Beneish M-Score was developed by Messod Beneish in 1999 to detect earnings manipulation. It uses 8 financial ratios derived from the income statement and balance sheet to flag companies that may be inflating reported profits. A score above -1.78 suggests possible manipulation; below -1.78 indicates a lower likelihood. It famously flagged Enron as a potential manipulator before its collapse. ValueMarkers computes the M-Score directly from financial statement data.

Think of them as three independent security guards. The Piotroski score tells you if the business is fundamentally strong. The Altman score tells you if it's financially stable and unlikely to go bankrupt. The Beneish score tells you if the numbers can be trusted. A high-quality investment ideally passes all three: F-Score >= 7, Altman > 2.99, Beneish < -1.78. If a stock fails one, investigate why. If it fails two or three, treat it as a significant red flag.

Failing one or more checks is a warning signal, not a guaranteed problem. A low Piotroski score might mean a cyclical business in a down year, not permanent weakness. A grey-zone Altman score is common in highly leveraged industries like utilities or real estate. A concerning Beneish score warrants a deeper look at the financial statements but does not confirm fraud. Use the Triple Check as a filter and a starting point for deeper research, not as a buy/sell signal in isolation.

The Piotroski and Beneish scores are broadly applicable to any company with standard financial statements. The Altman Z-Score was originally designed for US manufacturing companies and may be less accurate for financial institutions, utilities, or non-US companies with different accounting standards. ValueMarkers applies these scores to all stocks in our database but flags when interpretation may require additional context.

The VM Score is a weighted composite of 10 fundamental categories, each containing 5-12 indicators. Every indicator value is converted to a percentile rank (0-100) among all stocks in the database, so a score of 80 means the stock is better than 80% of all tracked stocks on that metric. Category scores are then weighted (Intrinsic Value 20%, Profitability 15%, Financial Health 12%, Cash Flow 12%, Growth 10%, Efficiency 8%, Dividends 8%, Momentum 5%, Quality Scores 5%, Management 5%) to produce the final score.

(1) Intrinsic Value - is the stock cheap relative to its true worth? (2) Profitability - does it make good money? (3) Financial Health - can it survive a downturn? (4) Cash Flow - does it generate real cash, not just accounting profits? (5) Growth - is it growing earnings and revenue? (6) Efficiency - how well does management deploy capital? (7) Dividends & Shareholder Returns - does it reward shareholders? (8) Momentum & Price - is the market beginning to recognize the value? (9) Quality Scores - does it pass the Triple Check? (10) Management & Governance - are insiders aligned with shareholders?

120 carefully selected indicators across the 10 categories. We started with a larger set and removed any that failed the test: "Would a serious value investor use this to make or reject an investment decision?" The 30 indicators visible on the free tier are the most universally important. All 120 are available on Analyst+.

Margin of Safety is the percentage gap between a stock's intrinsic value (DCF fair value) and its current market price. A 30% Margin of Safety means the stock trades 30% below our calculated intrinsic value - providing a buffer if our assumptions are wrong. A negative Margin of Safety means the stock is priced above our estimate of fair value. The concept was introduced by Benjamin Graham and is central to value investing.

Our DCF model projects a company's free cash flow forward using the trailing FCF as a base, grows it by an estimated rate (default: analyst consensus estimate), and discounts each year's cash flow back to today using a discount rate (default: 10%). We then add a terminal value (Gordon Growth Model with 3% terminal growth rate) and divide by shares outstanding to get intrinsic value per share.

The Graham Number is a conservative estimate of a stock's intrinsic value based on two inputs: EPS (earnings per share) and BVPS (book value per share). The formula is sqrt(22.5 x EPS x BVPS). The constant 22.5 represents Graham's maximum acceptable P/E of 15 multiplied by his maximum P/B of 1.5.

Most stock screeners are filter tools - you set a P/E threshold and get a list. ValueMarkers is an analysis platform. Every stock gets a composite VM Score built from 120 indicators, an intrinsic value estimate with a visual Margin of Safety gauge, and a Quality Triple Check. The natural language search (Analyst+) and AI analysis (Professional) further differentiate from tools like Finviz or Macrotrends.

Explorer (Free): 30 core indicators, 4 exchanges, 3 years of history, 1 watchlist. Analyst ($29/mo monthly, $24/mo annual): all 120 indicators, all 73 exchanges, 10 years of history, 10 watchlists, portfolio tracker, alerts, community publishing, NL search, DCF calculator, CSV export. Professional ($99/mo monthly, $49/mo annual): everything in Analyst plus AI analysis, 30 years of history, insider trading data, institutional holders, backtesting, Guru 13-F tracking, priority support.

Yes. Cancel your subscription at any time from Settings, Billing, Manage Subscription. You keep access to your paid tier until the end of your current billing period, then revert to free Explorer. No cancellation fees or lock-in periods.

We do not currently offer a time-limited free trial. Instead, the free Explorer plan is permanently free and gives you a meaningful taste of the platform. The Quality Triple Check, intrinsic value, and 30 core indicators are available forever at no cost.

All major credit and debit cards (Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover) through Stripe. We do not currently accept PayPal, bank transfers, or cryptocurrency. ValueMarkers never stores your card details.

If you cancel a paid plan and revert to free Explorer, you keep your account and your first watchlist (up to 10 items). Additional watchlists and items beyond the free limits will be preserved in our database but will not be accessible until you resubscribe. Your portfolio holdings data is also retained.

Yes. Upgrade or downgrade at any time through Settings, Billing. Upgrades take effect immediately. Downgrades take effect at the end of your current billing period. When upgrading, you are charged the prorated difference for the remainder of the current billing cycle.

Go to /portfolio and click "Add Portfolio," then "Add Holding." Enter the ticker, number of shares, and purchase price. ValueMarkers calculates your current P/L, total return percentage, and shows the VM Score and Margin of Safety for each position.

Prices are refreshed every 5 minutes during market hours, so P/L figures update approximately every 5 minutes. Outside market hours, prices reflect the last closing price. We display a "Last updated" timestamp on all price-dependent calculations.

On the Analyst plan, you can set price alerts, ratio alerts, VM Score alerts, Margin of Safety alerts, and earnings alerts. Alerts are evaluated every 15 minutes. When triggered, you receive an email and an in-app notification, and the alert is automatically paused to prevent repeated pings.

Analyst plan users can export screener results and watchlist data to CSV. Professional plan users get full CSV export including financial statement data, all ratios, and price history. Portfolio data can also be exported on both paid plans.

Free: 1 watchlist, 10 items. Analyst: 10 watchlists, 100 items each. Professional: 50 watchlists, 500 items each. If you downgrade, your watchlists are preserved and become accessible again when you resubscribe.

ValueMarkers sources data from SEC filings, institutional-grade financial data providers, and real-time market feeds. Financial statements reflect reported figures from official regulatory filings. Ratios are computed directly from these statements to ensure consistency.

Our DCF model is a reasonable estimate based on publicly available data and analyst consensus inputs, not a guarantee of future value. We recommend using the intrinsic value as a starting point for your own research, not as a definitive price target.

No. ValueMarkers is built for fundamental value investors with a multi-year time horizon. The indicators, scoring system, and analysis tools are all oriented toward business quality and intrinsic value, not short-term price movements.

No. ValueMarkers is an analytical tool, not a financial advisor. Nothing on this platform constitutes investment advice, and past performance does not guarantee future results. All investment decisions are your own responsibility.

Finviz and similar tools are excellent filter engines, but they don't compute intrinsic value, don't provide a Quality Triple Check, don't show whether a stock is cheap relative to its fair value, and don't offer a composite quality score. ValueMarkers goes from "here are stocks matching your filters" to "here is a full fundamental analysis with a verdict."