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Stock Rover FAQs

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Why Stock Rover

Getting Started

Using Stock Rover

Stock Rover Data

Troubleshooting

Why Stock Rover

What is Stock Rover?

Stock Rover is a powerful equity research platform. It goes well beyond what investors are used to and expect from existing stock research sites. Stock Rover excels at performing both fundamental analysis and technical analysis, and is particularly adept at comparing competing stock, ETF and mutual fund investment opportunities. Very fast and remarkably intuitive, Stock Rover is a Web 2.0 platform that uses many standard desktop software user interface conventions (such as right click for menus). This makes Stock Rover powerful and functional, while still being quick to learn and simple to use.

Why did we build Stock Rover?

We are individual investors who were frustrated with the existing array of disparate investing web sites. Financial research often required opening multiple windows and tabs from multiple providers; it got very confusing. Furthermore, even to do rudimentary comparison we needed to use separate spreadsheets and often had to manually enter data. We felt there had to be a better way to screen, analyze and pick stocks. In addition to being individual investors, we are software engineers with deep experience in designing and building enterprise class software, so we decided to build the best possible tool for stock research - a tool that we would want to use.

Who is Stock Rover for?

Stock Rover is for the individual investor. If you use Yahoo Finance, Google Finance, MSN Money or similar financial sites, you owe it to yourself to check out Stock Rover.

What makes Stock Rover better?

Many things. Speed, power, flexibility, completeness, ease of use. Stock Rover is built with a state of the art Web 2.0 architecture that presents a single pane of glass to the user where all relevant financial information is presented and manipulated. Everything you need is at your fingertips. You never get lost down a canyon of page clicks or across an array of different windows. Think of Stock Rover as an enormous spreadsheet containing the public financial data on all of the companies that interest you. All of the information you need to make smart investment decisions is at your fingertips. Stock Rover works right out of the box, but is also easily customizable to fit the style and needs of each individual investor.

Getting Started

How do I sign up for Stock Rover and how much does it cost?

Registration is easy, and it takes less than 30 seconds. Simply set up your personal Stock Rover account from our Sign Up form. During the current introductory period, Stock Rover is free. In the near future Stock Rover will evolve to a multi-tiered model where the base level product will continue to be free and the more fully featured versions of Stock Rover will be subscription based.

How do I access Stock Rover? Do I have to download and install software?

No, Stock Rover is a web-based application that can be accessed from any modern web browser from any computer. You simply log into your Stock Rover account to access all of your data.

What browsers can I use?

Stock Rover has been tested and is supported on the following browsers:

  • Chrome 9.0 or higher
  • Firefox 3.0 or higher
  • Internet Explorer 8 or higher (we strongly recommend IE9 over IE8 for better performance)
  • Safari 5 or higher (Mac only)

What are you going to do with my email address and investment information?

Stock Rover is a secure site which encrypts your information and keeps it protected. All personal information will be kept secure and private. Please see our Privacy Policy page for more information.

What kind of support is available?

There is extensive Help on the web site. Additionally you can email us at support@stockrover.com.

Using Stock Rover

Does Stock Rover save the previous work I've done?

Yes, all your work is automatically saved if you log out of Stock Rover, and when you log back in everything will be exactly as you left it.

Can I use different computers to access Stock Rover?

Yes, you can use different computers to access Stock Rover, but you can only be logged in on one computer at a time. The most recent computer you logged onto will have the active session, and any others will be logged out automatically.

How do I change my password?

To change your password, click on “Account Settings” under Options → Account, located near the upper right corner of the page.

I lost my password, how can I find it?

On the Sign In page of Stock Rover under the “Sign In” button is a  “Forgot password?” link. Click this and provide your user name and Stock Rover will send you an email containing a new password.

Stock Rover seems to be running slow, why is this?

It's possible you are running an outdated version of your web browser. Upgrade to the latest version and this should fix the problem. The Browsers we recommend for the best experience with Stock Rover are:

  • Chrome 22.0 or higher
  • Firefox 13.0 or higher
  • Internet Explorer 9 or higher
  • Safari 6 or higher (Mac only)

Can I be a Stock Rover member if I'm not in the U.S.?

Yes, Stock Rover can be used from any country.

Stock Rover Data

Which stocks are supported?

Stock Rover supports over 40,000 tickers. We support all equities that trade on the following seven major North American exchanges:

  • New York Stock Exchange
  • NASDAQ
  • NYSE Alternext US (formerly American Stock Exchange)
  • NYSE ARCA (formerly Pacific Exchange)
  • Toronto Stock Exchange
  • TSX Venture Exchange
  • BATS Exchange


As well as and two over-the-counter (OTC) boards:

  • OTCBB
  • OTCPK


Stock Rover also support tickers traded on many foreign exchanges. Last, but not least, one of the most powerful features of Stock Rover is to allow tickers not in our database to be dynamically added by users.

Note that Stock Rover does not currently support options, though depending on interest this may change in the future.

Where do you get your financial information from?

We pull data from a number of sources and we have a licensing agreement with Morningstar, which allows us to use their financial information. From our past experiences we believe that Morningstar is the most trusted and accurate data collection agency, allowing Stock Rover to have top-tier information.

Are the price quotes delayed?

There is a delay from the exchanges, which is typical for financial websites. For most stocks the delay in getting the data from the exchanges is about a minute, while for more obscure stocks the delay is 5 minutes, and for foreign and micro-cap stocks it is about 15 minutes.

Are the prices refreshed automatically?

Currently, no—but the data reloads and prices are refreshed anytime you click on anything that changes the table or the chart. Auto-refresh is on the roadmap for 2013, so you will be able to see the most recently updated data without having to click on anything.

Can I print or export the Table?

Our current licensing agreement precludes us from allowing users to export the data in the Table. However you can print data from the table. You can send the data in the table either to a printer or directly to a PDF file.

How do you calculate your Growth Grade, Profitability Grade, and Financial Health Grade?

We use the grades that Morningstar has given companies.

Why are 5-year returns for some Sectors and Industries much higher than the S&P 500?

The performance values for Industries and Sectors are calculated by an equal-weighted average of its surviving component stocks. This means that a successful small-cap stock can have a big effect on the long-term return of its Industry. It also means that bankrupt or de-listed companies are not included in our calculations.

How come the 5-day Return column in the table doesn't match what I see on a 5-day chart?

Return values in the table are calculated from the daily closing prices. The 1-day, 2-day, and 5-day charts, however, start with the 9:30 AM opening price and that can be different. While each of these behaviors is consistent with other financial sites the result is that on the weekend a 5-day chart show changes from 9:30 AM Monday through 4:00 PM Friday whereas the 5-day return column shows the dividend adjusted change between the closing price of each Friday.

Troubleshooting

Stock Rover hangs when loading after I log in, what should I do?

It is likely we have updated Stock Rover and your browser is running with a stale version of the Stock Rover code. This can be fixed by clearing your browser cache and then reloading Stock Rover. For our supported browsers, clearing your browser cache can be done as follows:

  • Chrome:  Chrome Menu -> Tools -> Clear Browsing Data -> Empty the Cache
  • Firefox:  Options -> Advanced -> Network Tab -> Clear Now Button
  • Internet Explorer:  Type CTRL + F5 at the same time
  • Safari:  Preferences -> Advanced -> Show Develop Menu -> Go To Develop Menu -> Empty Caches

How do I make the text larger?

If you'd like to make the text larger, you can zoom in on your browser. Do this by hitting “control” and “+” on a PC or “command” and “+” on a Mac. Or, you can hold “control” or “command” while using the scroll wheel on your mouse.

I can't see all of the windows in Stock Rover, what should I do?

Depending on the size of your browser, the windows in Stock Rover, such as the Screener or Portfolio managers, may be cut off at the bottom. If this is the case, just drag the upper corner of the window border to make it smaller, then reposition the window by dragging and dropping it to a new location.

Portfolios and Watchlists

Portfolios and Watchlists

What is the difference between a Portfolio and a Watchlist?

A Portfolio contains more information than a Watchlist. Portfolios are designed to track the stocks you actually (or hypothetically) own. Portfolios maintain a list of the individual investments (stocks, ETFs, mutual funds), and, for each investment, the number of shares and the average purchase price for the shares. Stock Rover uses that information to calculate detailed performance data for the portfolio.

A Watchlist is similar to portfolio, but only contains a list of ticker symbols—no quantity or buy price information is entered. A Watchlist is generally used to track securities that you are interested in but don't own.

What sort of portfolio management capabilities does Stock Rover have?

Stock Rover allows you to create and update up to 20 portfolios (see the How To documentation for how to do this.) However, Stock Rover is primarily a stock research tool and not a portfolio management tool, so you cannot execute or track trades through Stock Rover. Currently, there is no way to link Stock Rover to your brokerage account but we understand this is highly desired feature and it is on our roadmap for future releases. For the time being, you can import your portfolios that have been downloaded from your brokerage house in csv format from most brokerage houses. Again, see the How To documentation for how to do this.

How do I create a Portfolio?

Creating a Portfolio in Stock Rover is simple. You can click on “Create a Portfolio” in the Task Wizard panel, right-click on “My Portfolios” in the Navigation panel and click “Create,” or click the “Save” icon above the table and select “Save Table as Portfolio”.

If you are looking at a stock and you want to create a new Portfolio with that stock, you can right-click it, select  “Add To Portfolio” and then select “New.”

I already have my Portfolio information elsewhere. How do I get it into Stock Rover?

To import a Portfolio, right-click on “My Portfolios” in the Navigation panel and select “Import”. From there, you can select the format of the portfolio and import it.

For users that trade at Fidelity, Schwab and TD Ameritrade, Stock Rover supports direct import of their exported data. More brokerage houses will be supported in the future. Note that TD Ameritrade exports their CSV file with an XLS extenstion. It is OK to to import the XLS file in this specific case.

For other sources, you can import by specifying a CSV (Comma Separated Values) file. You can create a CSV file from a spreadsheet program such as Excel, or by using the export function from your brokerage firm. To be correctly read by Stock Rover, the CSV file should have three columns: Symbol, Buy Price and Quantity. Each row should represent a security in your portfolio.

How many Portfolios and Watchlists can I create?

You can create up to 25 Portfolios and up to 25 Watchlists.

How many securities can I have in a Portfolio or Watchlist?

The maximum number of securities in an individual Portfolio or Watchlist is 250.

Are Portfolio summary values just simple averages or weighted averages by what I own?

When the contents of a Portfolio are displayed in the main Table, the summary rows will show a value-weighted average based on what you own. A high-value holding will therefore have a correspondingly bigger impact on this summary total than that of a stock you own less of. If you have typed comparison stocks that are not part of the current portfolio into the Research Box then they will not affect any of the summary row values.

Is it possible to chart a Portfolio in Stock Rover?

Yes. Investors can chart Portfolio performance including dividends with Stock Rover. Portfolio performance can be compared against any benchmark, such as other Portfolios, an index or multiple indices, ETFs, mutual funds or individual stocks. Simply right click on the Portfolio of interest and select “Chart”.

I deleted my Portfolio (or Watchlist) by accident, can I get it back?

Yes. Simply click on the Message Log icon in the top right corner of Stock Rover. A new window will pop up that will allow you to restore the deleted Portfolio or Watchlist.

Screeners

What is a Screener and why would I want to use one?

A Screener is a way of reducing the investable universe of stocks down to a much smaller set of stocks that you are interested in researching further based on their financial metrics and/or price performance.

Stock Screnners, also sometimes referred to a stock scanners, are a common tool in stock selection. Stocks are narrowed down to a smaller set of candidates by applying filters; a stock must pass all filters to be included in a Screen. Screeners can be performed on many disparate criteria such as earnings metrics, technical metrics, operational metrics, dividends etc. There are over 250 financial metrics in Stock Rover that you can screen for.

You would want to use a Screener to quickly identify stocks that match your investment strategies. For example you may be interested in only large-cap stocks that pay a dividend of at least a 3% and have grown their dividend at least 4% per year for the last 5 years. Or perhaps you want to find value based momentum stocks that are within 5% of their 52-week highs and whose Price-to-Book ratio is under 1. Screeners allow you to do this extremely quickly.

How many Screeners can I create?

You can create up to 20 Screeners.

How many different financial metrics can I filter on in a Screener?

There is no practical limit. Stock Rover supplies over 250 screen-able financial metrics.

How do I know how many stocks will pass a Screener?

As you construct the filters, Stock Rover dynamically updates the number of stocks that are passing your filters. This is a significant advantage over typical screening tools which don't show the number of stocks that pass until all of the filtering criteria are entered.

Can the stocks that pass a Screener change?

Yes, definitely. As time goes by and metric values for companies change, new companies may pass the Screener and companies that originally passed the Screener may no longer meet the Screener's criteria. Each time you run the Screener, you get a list of the companies that pass the screener at that moment.

What if I want to save the stocks that pass a Screener?

If the stocks that pass a Screener are displayed in the Table, simply click on the “Save” button in the Table's toolbar and choose to save the passing stocks as either a Portfolio or as a Watchlist. Once saved, the passing stocks will be set, and running the Screener in the future will not affect the saved stocks. If you wish to change the stocks that were saved, you can edit the Portfolio or Watchlist manually.

I deleted my Screener by accident, can I get it back?

Yes. Simply click on the Message Log icon in the top right corner of Stock Rover and a new window will pop up that will allow you to restore the deleted screener.

Charts

Can I chart Portfolios, Watchlists and Screeners as well as stocks?

Stock Rover allows you to chart stocks, mutual funds, ETFs, Indices, Portfolios, Watchlists, Screeners, Sectors and Industries. You can also chart preferred shares, closed end funds and foreign stocks.

How do I add an investment to the Chart?

You can do this by right-clicking the item in the Navigation panel and selecting ‘Chart.’ Or, type the name of the item into the Chart's Research Bar. Alternatively, if the Table and Chart are linked (as indicated by the link icon to the right of the Chart's Research Bar), you can simply click on the stock in the Table to see it in the Chart.

Does the Chart automatically graph what's displayed in the Table?

Users have the choice of having the Chart and the Table linked together or functioning independently of each other. By default the Chart and Table are linked together, which means that the item selected in the Table will be automatically graphed in the Chart as well. However, the two can be made independent of each other by clicking on the broken link icon to the right of the Chart ticker research bar. Clicking on the un-broken link icon will restore the Table to Chart link.

What is the time period of the Chart?

The Chart can have a time period anywhere from one day to over five years. You can set the time period using the preset buttons at the bottom, which will cause the time period to end with the most recent market day, or you can select a custom date range.

How many lines can I chart?

Stock Rover allows you to chart up to 12 lines.

Can I create my own trend line?

Currently you cannot create your own trend lines in the chart, but you can add the simple or exponential moving averages with custom time periods.

Why can't I choose to chart in price or price percent change?

If there is more than one line in the Chart then Stock Rover automatically uses price percent change on the y-axis so that you can easily compare relative performance across all investments. When there is just one line being charted, you can choose to view with price or price percent change.

How do I chart relative performance?

To chart relative performance, set an investment or benchmark as a baseline by clicking the small graph icon to the right of its label in the legend. This will flatten the line at 0% and redraw the other lines relative to the baseline. Click the icon again to return to the Chart without a baseline.

What is the primary ticker?

The primary ticker is the leftmost ticker in the Chart's Research Bar. The Chart will take the name of the primary ticker, as well as use the primary ticker's sector and industry as possible benchmarks in the Benchmark menu.

Why can't I set the industry or sector of one of the charted stocks as a benchmark?

The industry and sector in the Benchmark menu only reflects those of the primary ticker, which is the leftmost ticker in the Chart's Research Bar. To make a ticker the primary ticker, right-click on it in the Research Bar and select “Move Left.”

How do I make a charted investment the primary ticker?

Simply right-click the investment in the Research Bar and select “Move Left.”

How can I go back to a previous chart?

Stock Rover stores the previous ten chart configurations in the Chart's history. To go back to one of the previous Charts, click the drop-down arrow at the end of the Research Bar and select the desired configuration from the drop-down list.

How can I chart dividend-adjusted price?

Dividend adjusted price allows you to see the total return of a stock, based on both price change and dividends paid. It is very effective for comparing the actual real return you receive from stocks with different dividend profiles. Charting dividend-adjusted price is simple: Click the “Settings” button in the Chart's toolbar and check the box for “Adjust Price for Dividends.”

Views

What are Views?

Stock Rover's Views control which financial metrics are displayed in the Table as columns. By selecting one of the Views' tabs at the top of the Table, you will load that View's set of columns into the Table while keeping its rows the same. Stock Rover comes with eleven factory-standard Views which all have their own set of metrics, but it is easy to edit these or create your own by right-clicking on a tab.

Why would I want to use different Views?

Views allow you to sift out extraneous information and evaluate your investments through a specific lens. By only viewing a stock's performance with select metrics, you are compartmentalizing your data, which lets you focus on a particular area of analysis without getting distracted by irrelevant information.

How do I create a new View?

Right-click any of the View tabs and select ‘Create’ from the drop-down menu.

How many Views can I create?

You can create up to 20 Views.

How many financial metrics can a View have?

A View can have up to 30 financial metrics (columns).

Can I save different versions of a View?

Yes, you right click on the View tab of the View you want to create a different version for and select “Copy”. You will be prompted for the name of the copied view and then once created, right click on the newly copied view and select “Modify” from the pop up menu to make any desired changes.

Can change the order of the Views?

Yes, simply right click on the View tab of the View you want to move and select either “Move Left” or “Move Right” from the pop up menu.

I accidentally changed my View — is there a way to undo this?

If you have unintentionally changed to your View, simply reverse the changes you have made in the View and the changes will be saved automatically.

I deleted my View by mistake — is there a way to get it back?

Yes, if you accidently delete a View, click on the “Message Log” button in the upper-right corner of the Stock Rover screen, which will bring up a window which will allow you to restore the deleted View.