Post by Admin/YBB on Dec 11, 2023 7:47:02 GMT -6
MFO Premium Pointers
MFO Premium subscription offers quotes, portfolios, watchlists, searches, etc. Subscription fee is quite reasonable.
This writeup assumes general familiarity with MFO Premium and only highlights significant points.
General Features
The MFO RISKs are based on multiple volatility measures using (i) SP500 SD, (ii) Downside Deviation (RMS of negative deviations wrt risk-free return), (iii) Ulcer Index (RMS of drawdowns), and are not within the Categories (e.g. M* Risk). The MFO Risk Levels are 1 (Very Conservative) – up to 20% of the benchmark risk; 2 (Conservative) – 20-50%; 3 (Moderate) – 50-75%; 4 (Aggressive) – 75-125%; 5 (Very Aggressive) – more than 125%. Most MFO “Ratings” are within the Categories, but not the MFO Risk. (RMS = Root Mean Squared)
“FUNDs” of various types are supported – OEFs, ETFs, CEFs, proprietary insurance funds (special tickers IF-xxxx; not supported at MFO Home or MFO Discussions). Stocks aren’t supported.
CHARTING can be used for various “funds”. Much of the detailed analysis information is presented in tabular forms. After a Chart-Run, dates can be adjusted by clicking on them; buttons are available for other changes in chart displays. Charting is not integrated with Portfolios, and they are treated as different functionalities. A request has been made to make charts linkable elsewhere (as .png or .pdf), www.mutualfundobserver.com/discuss/discussion/comment/170121/#Comment_170121
(Charles B (@charles at MFO: www.mutualfundobserver.com/discuss/profile/Charles ) will explore making both charts and tabular results linkable elsewhere for viewing by all (members, nonmembers). Some site storage will be needed for this, but storage isn’t an issue now.)
PORTFOLIO feature can also be used for various “funds”. It isn’t transactional or linkable to brokerages or fund firms. It analyzes portfolios manually entered (or saved) in % or $. For Watchlists (within the Portfolios), just skip % or $ data and it will assume equal-weights. In Portfolio Results, dates aren’t customizable (as they are for Charts) but can be selected from a large menu of possible date ranges. It is mentioned that Portfolios are saved under “Profile”, but that seems to be just at the bottom of the Portfolio page; they can be Renamed. The Save button doesn’t seem to work, but portfolios are Saved after Runs. Portfolio value charts are not available, but Portfolio ticker lists can be copied-and-pasted into the Charts window, remove any weights data, and that will chart the entire fund group.
MULTISEARCH can used for fund listed funds (OEFs, ETFs, CEFs) and proprietary Insurance Funds (IF-xxxx). For insurance funds, use Asset Universe – Insurance Funds and firm’s Name(s) – e.g. TIAA (or CREF or both separated by comma), Fidelity, Vanguard, Pimco (or Allianz or both separated by comma), etc. MultiSearch will only find tickers for the oldest classes (default, typically the investor or institutional classes; use More Basic Information to override); a click on a fund ticker will show its other classes along with lots of other information. There is also a QuickSearch with fewer options.
TIAA/CREF VAs are available for quotes, charting, portfolios/watchlists. Information on their Q-tickers (Yahoo Finance, StockCharts, TIAA website, etc) and MFO/Lipper IF-tickers is in the links below. Names for the CREF R1 and R3 classes are incorrectly switched. Histories available for TIAA/CREF VAs at MFO are longer than elsewhere, including at the TIAA website (now).
ybbpersonalfinance.proboards.com/thread/536/tiaa-cref-vas-mfo
www.mutualfundobserver.com/discuss/discussion/61774/tiaa-cref-vas-at-mfo
There is a feature within the MultiSearch to save WATCHLISTS. No % or $ need to be specified (as for Portfolios). Unfortunately, on Run, the Watchlist always defaults to the oldest classes of fund tickers regardless of the tickers entered. So, it may be better to just run them as saved lists within Portfolios – if % or $ not specified, equal % weights are assumed, so no big deal. There are differences in the results presented – Watchlist Runs have many more columns with Right-Arrow Scroll, a huge data dump, but the results from Portfolio Runs are more limited and relevant to portfolio analysis.
Each function/operation opens in a new TAB. After several MFO tabs are open, an out-of-memory message may be received. Solution is just to close most MFO tabs; most MFO tabs don’t offer the option to go back to the previous page.
Methodology Related
Many Portfolio level MFO statistics use weighted-averages for P/E, P/B, P/S, P/C, D/E, EPS Growth, yield, Dividend-Growth, Dividend Payout Ratio, ESG data, ERs, ROA, ROC, ROE, ROI, MFO Composite Ratings, etc; and for Bonds – Duration, Maturity, Credit Quality (using only fixed-income portion). That is OK although other sites may handle P/E, etc differently.
It's unclear what is done for alpha, beta, SD, APR, Sharp Ratio, etc. The written MFO material is silent on this. A spot check indicated that those aren’t weighted-averages and that is good. Are these found by first generating a monthly return series for the Portfolio and then computing these statistics? Or, another way? Some sites may just use weighted-averages (e.g. Stock Rover) or skip them (e.g. new M* Investor). A general description of what is being done at MFO would be helpful. (Edit/Add - Resolved in 03/2024. These are rolled-up properly.)
Edit/Add, 1/4/24. MFO Premium Homepage layout: The 1st row of the horizontal Menu Bar has all the FREE stuff. The 2nd row has all the SUBSCRIBER stuff.
HOME BLOG QUICKSEARCH OWLS ALARM PROFILES DEFINITIONS MFO
LOGIN ANALYZE MULTISEARCH PORTFOLIOS LAUNCHES AVERAGES FAMILIES
Edit/Add, 3/18/24.
For CASH Annuity/RATE0bps ST-Treasury/SGOVBND T-Bill3m/TBIL MMktFund/Ticker
Enter CASH RATE0350 SGOVBND TBILL VMFXX
See Preset Screen section of Definitions, www.member.mfopremium.com/definitions/
As noted, WATCHLISTS can be saved distinctly under Portfolios (without % or $; the default assumption is an equally-weighted portfolio) and also under MultiSearch. When Watchlists are run from MultiSearch, there are additional buttons to scroll columns, or buttons to select column groups. The overall metrics aren't presented, as when the Watchlists runs are from Portfolios; the assumption is that overall parameters make sense for Portfolios only. One can think of separate Watchlists/Portfolios (WL-P) and Watchlists/MultiSearch (WL).
Edit/Add, 4/28/24. New fund flow features:
FLOW - Shows fund flow data with total-return (TR) for 1 fund. The flow data includes net flows for the period and total assets (AUM); relative or absolute values can be displayed; and also the daily or monthly flows (whichever is available). Patterns of fund flows and TR vary, so this feature allows one to see historical patterns for a fund.
FLOWS - Net fund flow data for the period for up to 12 funds. Relative or absolute displays shown.
TNAS - Total asset (AUM) data for up to 12 funds. Relative or absolute displays shown.
Possible Refinements
There are some inconsistencies in the MFO Definitions page and the data and descriptions in other pages/tables. These may be simple to resolve.
Add ROC (Rate of Change) to Definitions and possibly make it available as a Chart feature. It is available at StockCharts, Yahoo Finance and elsewhere and is useful for a quick view of rolling % changes. Basically, it is the % rate of change between two times. As Return on Capital (ROC) is included at MFO, at least mention the difference from similarly named Rate of Change (ROC) available elsewhere.
school.stockcharts.com/doku.php?id=technical_indicators:rate_of_change_roc_and_momentum
Yields available are TTM and YTM (weighted-average of individual YTMs) only. Missing is the 30-day SEC yield (required for most funds). It is similar to the YTM, but must follow the prescriptions by the SEC. Add to Definitions, Portfolio data, Quotes, etc, when available.
For Trend/EMA, only the 1st weight is 2/(N + 1), then there is exponential decay in the weights. Adjust in the Definitions.
An unclear mention in SD-Standard Deviation (STDEV) of “in a year’s time” in the Definitions. Is annualization of SD calculated over different timeframes is meant by that?
Edit/Add, 04/2023.
Customizable timeframes.
Charting of portfolio values. Integration of Charting and Portfolio functions.
Mention BF-BM index for beta; the default is SP500. (Later, these are found by right-scrolling to "Benchmarks" and included are BM- FM (Fund Manager), BI (Broad Index), PI (Peer Index), LG (Lipper Global), BF (Best Fit), ETF)
MFO Premium subscription offers quotes, portfolios, watchlists, searches, etc. Subscription fee is quite reasonable.
This writeup assumes general familiarity with MFO Premium and only highlights significant points.
General Features
The MFO RISKs are based on multiple volatility measures using (i) SP500 SD, (ii) Downside Deviation (RMS of negative deviations wrt risk-free return), (iii) Ulcer Index (RMS of drawdowns), and are not within the Categories (e.g. M* Risk). The MFO Risk Levels are 1 (Very Conservative) – up to 20% of the benchmark risk; 2 (Conservative) – 20-50%; 3 (Moderate) – 50-75%; 4 (Aggressive) – 75-125%; 5 (Very Aggressive) – more than 125%. Most MFO “Ratings” are within the Categories, but not the MFO Risk. (RMS = Root Mean Squared)
“FUNDs” of various types are supported – OEFs, ETFs, CEFs, proprietary insurance funds (special tickers IF-xxxx; not supported at MFO Home or MFO Discussions). Stocks aren’t supported.
CHARTING can be used for various “funds”. Much of the detailed analysis information is presented in tabular forms. After a Chart-Run, dates can be adjusted by clicking on them; buttons are available for other changes in chart displays. Charting is not integrated with Portfolios, and they are treated as different functionalities. A request has been made to make charts linkable elsewhere (as .png or .pdf), www.mutualfundobserver.com/discuss/discussion/comment/170121/#Comment_170121
(Charles B (@charles at MFO: www.mutualfundobserver.com/discuss/profile/Charles ) will explore making both charts and tabular results linkable elsewhere for viewing by all (members, nonmembers). Some site storage will be needed for this, but storage isn’t an issue now.)
PORTFOLIO feature can also be used for various “funds”. It isn’t transactional or linkable to brokerages or fund firms. It analyzes portfolios manually entered (or saved) in % or $. For Watchlists (within the Portfolios), just skip % or $ data and it will assume equal-weights. In Portfolio Results, dates aren’t customizable (as they are for Charts) but can be selected from a large menu of possible date ranges. It is mentioned that Portfolios are saved under “Profile”, but that seems to be just at the bottom of the Portfolio page; they can be Renamed. The Save button doesn’t seem to work, but portfolios are Saved after Runs. Portfolio value charts are not available, but Portfolio ticker lists can be copied-and-pasted into the Charts window, remove any weights data, and that will chart the entire fund group.
MULTISEARCH can used for fund listed funds (OEFs, ETFs, CEFs) and proprietary Insurance Funds (IF-xxxx). For insurance funds, use Asset Universe – Insurance Funds and firm’s Name(s) – e.g. TIAA (or CREF or both separated by comma), Fidelity, Vanguard, Pimco (or Allianz or both separated by comma), etc. MultiSearch will only find tickers for the oldest classes (default, typically the investor or institutional classes; use More Basic Information to override); a click on a fund ticker will show its other classes along with lots of other information. There is also a QuickSearch with fewer options.
TIAA/CREF VAs are available for quotes, charting, portfolios/watchlists. Information on their Q-tickers (Yahoo Finance, StockCharts, TIAA website, etc) and MFO/Lipper IF-tickers is in the links below. Names for the CREF R1 and R3 classes are incorrectly switched. Histories available for TIAA/CREF VAs at MFO are longer than elsewhere, including at the TIAA website (now).
ybbpersonalfinance.proboards.com/thread/536/tiaa-cref-vas-mfo
www.mutualfundobserver.com/discuss/discussion/61774/tiaa-cref-vas-at-mfo
There is a feature within the MultiSearch to save WATCHLISTS. No % or $ need to be specified (as for Portfolios). Unfortunately, on Run, the Watchlist always defaults to the oldest classes of fund tickers regardless of the tickers entered. So, it may be better to just run them as saved lists within Portfolios – if % or $ not specified, equal % weights are assumed, so no big deal. There are differences in the results presented – Watchlist Runs have many more columns with Right-Arrow Scroll, a huge data dump, but the results from Portfolio Runs are more limited and relevant to portfolio analysis.
Each function/operation opens in a new TAB. After several MFO tabs are open, an out-of-memory message may be received. Solution is just to close most MFO tabs; most MFO tabs don’t offer the option to go back to the previous page.
Methodology Related
Many Portfolio level MFO statistics use weighted-averages for P/E, P/B, P/S, P/C, D/E, EPS Growth, yield, Dividend-Growth, Dividend Payout Ratio, ESG data, ERs, ROA, ROC, ROE, ROI, MFO Composite Ratings, etc; and for Bonds – Duration, Maturity, Credit Quality (using only fixed-income portion). That is OK although other sites may handle P/E, etc differently.
It's unclear what is done for alpha, beta, SD, APR, Sharp Ratio, etc. The written MFO material is silent on this. A spot check indicated that those aren’t weighted-averages and that is good. Are these found by first generating a monthly return series for the Portfolio and then computing these statistics? Or, another way? Some sites may just use weighted-averages (e.g. Stock Rover) or skip them (e.g. new M* Investor). A general description of what is being done at MFO would be helpful. (Edit/Add - Resolved in 03/2024. These are rolled-up properly.)
Edit/Add, 1/4/24. MFO Premium Homepage layout: The 1st row of the horizontal Menu Bar has all the FREE stuff. The 2nd row has all the SUBSCRIBER stuff.
HOME BLOG QUICKSEARCH OWLS ALARM PROFILES DEFINITIONS MFO
LOGIN ANALYZE MULTISEARCH PORTFOLIOS LAUNCHES AVERAGES FAMILIES
Edit/Add, 3/18/24.
For CASH Annuity/RATE0bps ST-Treasury/SGOVBND T-Bill3m/TBIL MMktFund/Ticker
Enter CASH RATE0350 SGOVBND TBILL VMFXX
See Preset Screen section of Definitions, www.member.mfopremium.com/definitions/
As noted, WATCHLISTS can be saved distinctly under Portfolios (without % or $; the default assumption is an equally-weighted portfolio) and also under MultiSearch. When Watchlists are run from MultiSearch, there are additional buttons to scroll columns, or buttons to select column groups. The overall metrics aren't presented, as when the Watchlists runs are from Portfolios; the assumption is that overall parameters make sense for Portfolios only. One can think of separate Watchlists/Portfolios (WL-P) and Watchlists/MultiSearch (WL).
Edit/Add, 4/28/24. New fund flow features:
FLOW - Shows fund flow data with total-return (TR) for 1 fund. The flow data includes net flows for the period and total assets (AUM); relative or absolute values can be displayed; and also the daily or monthly flows (whichever is available). Patterns of fund flows and TR vary, so this feature allows one to see historical patterns for a fund.
FLOWS - Net fund flow data for the period for up to 12 funds. Relative or absolute displays shown.
TNAS - Total asset (AUM) data for up to 12 funds. Relative or absolute displays shown.
Possible Refinements
There are some inconsistencies in the MFO Definitions page and the data and descriptions in other pages/tables. These may be simple to resolve.
Add ROC (Rate of Change) to Definitions and possibly make it available as a Chart feature. It is available at StockCharts, Yahoo Finance and elsewhere and is useful for a quick view of rolling % changes. Basically, it is the % rate of change between two times. As Return on Capital (ROC) is included at MFO, at least mention the difference from similarly named Rate of Change (ROC) available elsewhere.
school.stockcharts.com/doku.php?id=technical_indicators:rate_of_change_roc_and_momentum
Yields available are TTM and YTM (weighted-average of individual YTMs) only. Missing is the 30-day SEC yield (required for most funds). It is similar to the YTM, but must follow the prescriptions by the SEC. Add to Definitions, Portfolio data, Quotes, etc, when available.
For Trend/EMA, only the 1st weight is 2/(N + 1), then there is exponential decay in the weights. Adjust in the Definitions.
An unclear mention in SD-Standard Deviation (STDEV) of “in a year’s time” in the Definitions. Is annualization of SD calculated over different timeframes is meant by that?
Edit/Add, 04/2023.
Customizable timeframes.
Charting of portfolio values. Integration of Charting and Portfolio functions.
Mention BF-BM index for beta; the default is SP500. (Later, these are found by right-scrolling to "Benchmarks" and included are BM- FM (Fund Manager), BI (Broad Index), PI (Peer Index), LG (Lipper Global), BF (Best Fit), ETF)