A. Static information is updated manually as needed. The all-important price data is automatically updated once each weekday day at 1:20pm Pacific time which is 20 minutes after the NYSE typically closes. Accordingly, price data is not automatically updated on week-ends; but is automatically updated on mid-week holidays even though such an update is likely not necessary. We may perform a special manually update of data at any time that we deem it necessary. Thus, we may bundle other data updates along with an automatic price update; or, handle them separately at our discretion. The actual time of the last automatic price update is recorded in the "Last Automatic Price Update" time stamp which is on the left just above the portfolio data. In case you're wondering why the timestamp typically reports a time a few seconds after 1:20, the reason is this: Even though the job is inserted into the job queue very shortly after 1:20, depending on work load, the server may not actually get around to executing the task for a few seconds.
A. Dividends play an important role in my individual stocks investment strategy. The Dividend column gives you three pieces of important information about the dividend paid by a particular common stock. The information is forward slash ("/") delimited. First, the dividend column gives you the per-share dollar amount of the periodic dividend currently being paid by the stock. Most dividend-paying stocks pay dividends quarterly. The second amount in the field is the percentage payout. It's the ratio of the annualized first amount to the price of the stock expressed as a percentage. Sometimes this amount is referred to as the, "dividend yield" of the stock. The third and final piece of information is a possible yellow star. Presence of the yellow star indicates that the relevant stock is a dividend aristocrat.
A. The purpose of the report column is to provide information primarily about the date of the next earnings report for a particular portfolio stock.
A. The display always highlights the next two reporting dates in a distinguishing color. The background color for any stocks reporting on the next most immediate reporting date after the current date is amber. In addition, the background color for any stocks reporting on the current date is also amber. Thus, when one or more stocks report on the current date, there will be two reporting dates with an amber background color. The first is the current date and next is the next most immediate reporting date after the current date. For further clarity, when two reporting dates have an amber background color, one of these dates must be the current date. The background color for stocks reporting on the next reporting date after the last reporting date with an amber background color will have a yellow background color. Finally, a red background color provides an alert that the reporting date for the associated stock has already passed. Sometimes a red background color for a particular stock may linger for a few days after the passed reporting date pending the release of an updated reporting date.
A. The "-b" and "-a" suffixes are an attempt on our part to provide additional reporting information. The "-b" suffix means, "Before the opening bell". The "-a" suffix means, "After the closing bell". We don't always have the information to add the appropriate suffix. That is why you see many reporting dates without a timing suffix. To make matters worse, sometimes the reporting times that we have are just plain wrong. Of course, if an error in a suffix comes to our attention, we generally will try to get it fixed. This makes these suffixes somewhat fluid. The bottom line is, don't rely too heavily on these suffixes.