Introduction to Research with Stock Rover
Overview of the How To Guide
Stock Rover is an extremely powerful and flexible investment tool, and there are often a number of ways to perform the same task. This How To guide provides information about the different ways to approach any given function. It is meant to be a reference for Stock Rover users, so while you are welcome to read it cover-to-cover, you can also consult when you have specific questions about how to do something in Stock Rover. Use the menu at the left to jump to the functions you wish to learn about.
If you haven't already, we recommend visiting the Getting Started page to learn the basics of the Stock Rover screen layout and the relationship between different parts of the program. You may also find our recorded webinars in our Video Library useful, as they demo various parts of the product.
On this page, you'll find information about the most fundamental functions of Stock Rover, searching for tickers and using the Navigation Panel. You'll also find instructions for how to change your account settings, provide feedback, and invite a friend to Stock Rover.
Search for Tickers
To search for tickers in Stock Rover, start to type either the company name or the ticker symbol in the Research Box at the top the Table, shown below.
If you type in the entire ticker symbol and hit enter or the spacebar, the ticker will be added to the Table. Or, you can pause after typing a partial entry and an auto-fill suggestion menu will appear with matching suggestions for the entered text. The menu matches by both ticker and company name, so for example below you can see that after typing “ann” it suggests both tickers and company names containing that sequence of letters. Click on the item you want in the auto-fill suggestion menu, and it will be added to the Research Box.
Note: You cannot match a company name by typing in multiple words, as hitting the spacebar enters the first word as a ticker. So for example, you cannot type “Bank of America” into the Research Box because Stock Rover would try to add “Bank” as a ticker symbol.
The equity type of the ticker is listed on the right side of the menu—in the above screenshot, notice that there are matching tickers that are common stocks, preferred stocks, and funds. This can help you distinguish between the many tickers that may match the text, especially those with the same name. Also note that often there are different classes of preferred stocks; as you can see in the above screenshot, Annaly Capital has three matching preferred stocks.
Add a Ticker to the Stock Rover Database
If you try to add a ticker that is not currently supported by Stock Rover, you will be asked if you want to investigate.
After clicking ‘Would you like to investigate?’, a dialog box will appear that allows you to search for the ticker. If Stock Rover finds the ticker, you will be asked to select its equity type, and then you may add it to the Stock Rover database.
If Stock Rover finds information on the ticker, you may permanently add it to the database. Stock Rover tries to price every ticker, though more detailed information may not be available.
Add Tickers to the Table
To add a ticker to the Table, search for a ticker in the Research Box (this is described in detail in the Search for Tickers section above) by typing the symbol or company name into the Research Box and hitting enter or the spacebar. As you type, suggestions will appear in the auto-fill suggestion box. For example if you wanted to add AmerisourceBurgen, you could type either the ticker ABC or start typing the company name. Separate multiple tickers with spaces or commas.
Tickers in the Research Box are called “research tickers.” Research tickers appear in the Table in bold and italics.
Another way to compare research tickers in the Table is to click ‘Research Stocks’ in the Task Wizard.
This brings up a box where you can type in a ticker or company name and select from the auto-fill suggestion menu. Separate multiple tickers by a space or comma. When you click ‘OK’ or hit the enter key, the Table will display only the research tickers.
You can also view only the research tickers in the Table by clicking ‘The Research Box’ in the Navigation Panel.
To see the history the last ten sets of research tickers, click the drop-down arrow at the end of the Research Box.
Delete Tickers from the Table
To delete a ticker that you have added to the Table, click the ‘x’ at the end of the ticker name, either in the Research Box or in the Table itself. To delete all the tickers that you have added to the Table, click the ‘x’ at the end of the Research Box.
See a Snapshot of Stock's Data
When you hover over a ticker in the Table, Chart, or Insight Panel, a tooltip appears with key data about that stock, such as its industry, price, volume, market cap, and even its 1 year beta. See the screenshot below for an example, the ticker info box is outlined in red.
The ticker information tooltip gives you a snapshot of a particular stock without having to click on anything or take any action. To disable Ticker Info tooltips, go the ‘Options’ Menu, mouseover ‘Tooltips,’ and uncheck the box ‘Show Ticker Info Tooltips.’
Browse Indices, Sectors, and ETFs
If you aren't searching for specific tickers but instead want to browse the tickers in different industries, sectors, or exchange-traded funds (ETFs), you can start by going to the Navigation Panel. Here, you will find the indices, sectors, and ETFs organized into different folders. When you click on an item in the Navigation Panel, its contents—whether tickers or subcategories—will display in the Table. When the item you have clicked on contains subcategories, those subcategories will display in the Navigation Panel as well. For example, the screenshot below shows what happens when you click on ‘Indices’ in the Navigation Panel.
Notice that the names of the indices in the Table are hyperlinked. Clicking on a link will display the tickers contained in that index in the Table. Or, you can display those tickers in the Table by clicking on the index's name in the Navigation Panel, as shown in the screenshot below.
The above example uses indices, but you can follow a similar procedure for sectors and ETFs, both of which contain an additional level of subdivision. Clicking on a sector or ETF will expand those groups in the Navigation Panel and display them in the Table.
If you wish to see all funds in an ETF group at once, right-click that ETF group's name in the Navigation Panel and select ‘Show All ETFs.’
Similarly, to view all the stocks in a sector, right-click that sector in the Navigation Panel and select ‘Show All Stocks.’
You can chart indices, sectors, and industries by right-clicking on the item in the Navigation Panel and selecting ‘Chart’ from the drop-down menu. Individual ETFs can be charted by right-clicking on them in the Table, but groups of ETFs cannot be charted.
Change Account Preferences
To set account preferences, click on the ‘Options’ drop-down menu in the Stock Rover toolbar. Mouseover the items in this menu to adjust their settings.
The first menu option, ‘Tooltips,’ refers to the information boxes that appear when you hover over certain parts of the screen. The ‘Ticker Info Tooltips’ (described above) provide key information about tickers, while the ‘Help Tooltips’ explain the functions of buttons. Check or uncheck the boxes according to what kinds of tooltips you wish to see while using Stock Rover.
In the ‘Layout’ menu option you can opt to show cell borders in the Table. This is an aesthetic consideration and will not affect how the Table functions. Unchecking this box will hide cell borders in the Table.
In the ‘Prompts’ menu option, you can turn on or off the prompt messages that appear before you cancel any unsaved changes in Stock Rover. If you have this box unchecked, no message will alert you if you are about to lose unsaved changes.
In the ‘Account’ menu option, select ‘Email Notifications’ to bring up a window (shown in the screenshot below) in which you can adjust your email preferences.
You can receive performance emails about your Portfolios and Watchlists daily, weekly, or monthly, or you can turn off email notifications altogether.
Clicking on ‘Account Settings’ brings up a window in which you can change the email address associated with your account and your login password. Your username may not be changed.
Invite a Friend to Stock Rover
If you like Stock Rover and want to invite friends to try it out, click on ‘Invite a Friend’ in the left-hand side of the Stock Rover toolbar. In the box that appears, add the recipients' email addresses, separated by semicolons, in the top field. You can choose to personalize the default message or send it as is. When you are ready to send, click ‘Send’ and the email will be sent to the recipients you have specified.
Send Feedback to the Stock Rover Team
We welcome your feedback about your experience using Stock Rover. You can report bugs, ask questions, make suggestions, praise your favorite feature, or provide any other feedback by clicking on ‘Feedback’ in the right-hand side of the Stock Rover toolbar. Fill out the form provided and click ‘Send.’ Or, you may send your questions and comments through email to feedback@stockrover.com. Any feedback you send will be read by a (human) member of the Stock Rover team.