Financial Metrics for Value Investors: The Complete Reference (2026)
By Chad Hartman
Published May 21, 2026 · Last updated May 24, 2026
Value investing is a numbers game, but only if you're looking at the right numbers — and only if those numbers match what the company actually reported. GeminIQ calculates 50+ financial KPIs directly from XBRL-tagged SEC filing data, and the Stock Screener makes 100+ metrics filterable with up to 10 stackable conditions.
This guide defines every calculated metric on GeminIQ, organized by category: valuation, profitability, growth, leverage, efficiency, dividends, and financial health. Each definition explains what the metric measures, why it matters for value investors, and links to the metric page where you can screen for it. Think of this as the reference card you keep open while analyzing companies.
Or explore these metrics on real company data — no account needed →
Valuation Metrics
Valuation metrics answer a single question: what are you paying for what you're getting? A cheap stock isn't necessarily a good investment, and an expensive stock isn't necessarily a bad one — but knowing the price you're paying relative to earnings, cash flow, revenue, or assets is the starting point for every investment decision.
P/E Ratio (Price-to-Earnings TTM)
What it measures: The stock price divided by trailing twelve-month earnings per share. A P/E of 20 means you're paying $20 for every $1 of annual earnings.
Why it matters: The most widely used valuation metric. A low P/E can signal undervaluation or a business in decline. A high P/E can signal overvaluation or justified premium for growth. The number alone is not useful — it needs context from growth rates, margin trends, and industry norms.
Screener applications: GARP Screen (P/E ≤ 25 with earnings growth ≥ 10%), Buffett-Style Screen (P/E ≤ 30 with high ROIC), Deep Value Screen
P/S Ratio (Price-to-Sales TTM)
What it measures: Market capitalization divided by trailing twelve-month revenue. Measures how much you're paying per dollar of sales, regardless of profitability.
Why it matters: Useful for companies with volatile or negative earnings, where P/E is undefined or misleading. A low P/S on a company with improving margins can signal a turnaround opportunity. Also useful for comparing companies within the same industry where accounting policies affect earnings but not revenue.
Screener applications: Contrarian Low Price-to-Sales Screen
P/B Ratio (Price-to-Book)
What it measures: Stock price divided by book value per share. Measures what you're paying for the company's net assets.
Why it matters: Central to classic Graham-style value investing. A P/B below 1.0 means the market is pricing the company below its accounting net worth — either because the assets are impaired, the business is in decline, or the market is mispricing the stock. The Piotroski F-Score was specifically designed to identify high-quality companies within the low P/B universe.
Screener applications: Net-Net Stocks Screen, Piotroski F-Score Screen
EV/EBITDA (Enterprise Value to EBITDA TTM)
What it measures: Enterprise value (market cap + debt - cash) divided by trailing twelve-month EBITDA. A capital-structure-neutral valuation multiple.
Why it matters: EV/EBITDA adjusts for leverage differences between companies, making it the preferred valuation metric for comparing companies with different debt levels. It's also the primary metric used in M&A valuation. A low EV/EBITDA relative to peers suggests the stock may be undervalued — but high depreciation can make EBITDA overstate true economic earnings, so always check EV/EBIT alongside.
Screener applications: Low EV/EBITDA Screen
EV/EBIT (Enterprise Value to EBIT TTM)
What it measures: Enterprise value divided by trailing twelve-month operating income (EBIT). Like EV/EBITDA but includes the depreciation and amortization charge.
Why it matters: More conservative than EV/EBITDA because it accounts for the capital consumption embedded in D&A. A company where EV/EBIT and EV/EBITDA are close is asset-light; a company where they diverge significantly has heavy capital requirements. Joel Greenblatt's Magic Formula uses a variant of this metric (earnings yield = EBIT / EV).
Screener applications: Magic Formula Screen, High Earnings Yield Screen
Free Cash Flow Yield TTM
What it measures: Free cash flow per share divided by the stock price. The cash return the business generates relative to what you're paying for it.
Why it matters: FCF yield is the value investor's alternative to earnings yield. It measures actual cash generation — stripping out non-cash accounting charges — relative to the stock price. A high FCF yield means the business generates significant cash per dollar of market value. For Apple, FY2025 free cash flow of $98.8 billion against a roughly $3.5 trillion market cap yields approximately 2.8% — modest, but backed by extraordinary cash generation consistency.
Explore Free Cash Flow Yield TTM →
Screener applications: High Free Cash Flow Yield Screen, Cash Rich Undervalued Screen
Market Cap
What it measures: Total market value of a company's outstanding equity. Share price multiplied by shares outstanding.
Why it matters: Defines the size category of the investment. Market cap affects liquidity, analyst coverage, index inclusion, and institutional ownership patterns. Also the numerator in P/S and the equity component of enterprise value.
Net Debt
What it measures: Total debt minus cash and cash equivalents. A negative net debt means the company has more cash than debt — a net cash position.
Why it matters: Net debt is the purest measure of balance sheet leverage. A company with $500M in market cap and ($300M) in net debt (net cash) is offering the operating business at an implied $200M. GeminIQ computes net debt from as-filed balance sheet data, preserving the distinction between cash, marketable securities, and restricted cash.
Screener applications: Cash Rich Undervalued Screen, Net-Net Stocks Screen
Profitability Metrics
Profitability metrics tell you how efficiently a business converts revenue into returns for shareholders. They are the quality indicators — the metrics that distinguish businesses worth owning at a premium from those that are cheap for a reason.
ROIC (Return on Invested Capital TTM)
What it measures: Net operating profit after tax (NOPAT) divided by invested capital. The return the business earns on every dollar of capital deployed.
Why it matters: ROIC is the single most important quality metric in value investing. A business that consistently earns ROIC above its cost of capital is creating value; one that doesn't is destroying it. Buffett's "wonderful business at a fair price" thesis is, at its core, about finding companies with high and sustainable ROIC. Apple's FY2025 ROIC of 85.4% reflects its extraordinary capital efficiency — massive earnings on a relatively small invested capital base.
Screener applications: Buffett-Style Screen, High ROIC Low Debt Screen, Quality Compounder Screen, Magic Formula Screen
ROE (Return on Equity TTM)
What it measures: Net income divided by shareholders' equity. The return earned on the equity shareholders have invested.
Why it matters: ROE measures how effectively management deploys shareholder capital. High ROE can indicate a great business — or it can indicate high leverage (low equity from heavy debt). Always check ROE alongside debt-to-equity to distinguish between operational quality and financial engineering.
Screener applications: Buffett-Style Screen, Quality Compounder Screen
ROA (Return on Assets TTM)
What it measures: Net income divided by total assets. The return earned on all assets, regardless of how they're financed.
Why it matters: ROA strips out leverage effects, making it useful for comparing companies with different capital structures. It also reveals the economic productivity of the asset base. In a DuPont decomposition, ROA = net profit margin × asset turnover — companies can achieve high ROA through high margins (luxury brands), high turnover (discount retailers), or a combination.
Screener applications: Efficient Asset Turnover Screen, Piotroski F-Score Screen
Gross Profit Margin TTM
What it measures: Gross profit divided by revenue. The percentage of revenue retained after direct production costs.
Why it matters: Gross margin is the first measure of pricing power. A company with consistently high gross margins has either a differentiated product, a strong brand, or a cost advantage. Gross margin trends — especially quarter-over-quarter changes visible in 10-Q data — are the earliest indicator of competitive pressure or pricing strength. Apple's blended gross margin of 46.9% in FY2025 reflects the mix between Products (36.8%) and Services (75.4%).
Explore Gross Profit Margin TTM →
Screener applications: GARP Screen, Quality Compounder Screen, Contrarian Low P/S Screen
Operating Profit Margin TTM
What it measures: Operating income divided by revenue. The percentage of revenue remaining after all operating expenses (COGS, R&D, SG&A) but before interest and taxes.
Why it matters: Operating margin measures the profitability of the core business — stripped of capital structure (interest) and tax jurisdiction effects. Expanding operating margins alongside revenue growth is the highest-quality earnings pattern.
Explore Operating Profit Margin TTM →
Screener applications: Low Debt High Growth Screen
Net Profit Margin TTM
What it measures: Net income divided by revenue. The percentage of revenue that flows to the bottom line after all expenses.
Why it matters: The final measure of profitability. Comparing net margin to operating margin reveals the impact of interest expense and taxes — useful for assessing how leverage and tax planning affect shareholder returns.
Explore Net Profit Margin TTM →
Stock Compensation to Revenue TTM
What it measures: Share-based compensation expense as a percentage of revenue.
Why it matters: A high-ROIC technology company with 25% SBC-to-revenue has a very different economic picture than one with 2% — even if the income statement looks identical. SBC is a real dilutive cost. This metric lets you quantify it. Apple's SBC of $12.9 billion in FY2025 represents approximately 3.1% of revenue — moderate for a tech company.
Explore Stock Comp to Revenue TTM →
Growth Metrics
Growth metrics measure the trajectory. A company can be cheap and profitable today, but if revenue and earnings are declining, the current valuation may be justified — or even too high.
Revenue Growth (1-Year and 3-Year TTM)
What it measures: Year-over-year and three-year trailing revenue growth rates.
Why it matters: Revenue growth is the top-line signal. Is the market the company serves expanding? Is the company gaining or losing share? Three-year growth smooths out one-time effects and gives a more sustainable view of the trajectory.
Explore Revenue Growth 1Y → | Revenue Growth 3Y →
Screener applications: GARP Screen, Low Debt High Growth Screen
Net Income Growth (1-Year and 3-Year TTM)
What it measures: Year-over-year and three-year trailing net income growth.
Why it matters: Earnings growth drives valuation over time. Compare earnings growth to revenue growth: if earnings are growing faster than revenue, margins are expanding. If slower, margins are compressing. The gap tells you the quality of the growth.
Explore Net Income Growth 1Y → | Net Income Growth 3Y →
Screener applications: Buffett-Style Screen
EPS Growth (1-Year and 3-Year TTM)
What it measures: Year-over-year and three-year trailing earnings per share growth. Includes the effect of share buybacks (which reduce the share count and boost per-share earnings even when total earnings are flat).
Why it matters: EPS is what shareholders actually receive per share. Apple's FY2025 EPS grew 22.7% while net income grew 19.5% — the 3+ point gap was entirely driven by the buyback program. EPS growth is the metric most directly correlated with stock price appreciation over time.
Explore EPS Growth 1Y → | EPS Growth 3Y →
Screener applications: GARP Screen
Dividends Paid Growth (3-Year TTM)
What it measures: Three-year growth rate in total dividends paid.
Why it matters: For income investors, dividend growth rate is more important than current yield. A company growing dividends at 8–10% annually will double its payout within a decade. Sustainable dividend growth requires underlying earnings and cash flow growth.
Explore Dividends Paid Growth 3Y →
Screener applications: Dividend Growth Screen
Deferred Revenue Growth (1-Year)
What it measures: Year-over-year growth in deferred revenue — cash collected for services not yet delivered.
Why it matters: A leading indicator of future recognized revenue, particularly for subscription and SaaS businesses. Growing deferred revenue means the contracted revenue pipeline is expanding — a positive signal that appears on the balance sheet before it shows up on the income statement.
Explore Deferred Revenue Growth 1Y →
Leverage Metrics
Leverage metrics measure financial risk. A great business financed with too much debt can become a bad investment if cash flows decline and debt service becomes burdensome.
Debt-to-Equity
What it measures: Total debt divided by total shareholders' equity. The ratio of borrowed money to owner's money.
Why it matters: The primary leverage gauge. A ratio above 1.0 means the company has more debt than equity. Conservative value investors typically screen for ratios below 0.5. However, context matters: capital-light businesses (like Apple) can operate efficiently with higher leverage because their cash flows comfortably cover debt service.
Screener applications: Buffett-Style Screen (≤ 0.5), High ROIC Low Debt Screen (≤ 0.3)
Debt Ratio
What it measures: Total liabilities divided by total assets. The percentage of assets financed by debt and other obligations.
Why it matters: A broader measure than debt-to-equity because it includes all liabilities, not just funded debt. A debt ratio below 50% means shareholders own more than half the company's assets.
Screener applications: Low Debt High Growth Screen, Altman Z-Score Screen
Interest Coverage TTM
What it measures: EBIT divided by interest expense. How many times the company's operating income covers its interest payments.
Why it matters: The margin of safety for debt service. Interest coverage below 3.0 is concerning for most industries; below 1.5 is a warning sign. A company with 10x+ interest coverage can comfortably service its debt even if earnings decline substantially.
Explore Interest Coverage TTM →
Current Ratio
What it measures: Current assets divided by current liabilities. A snapshot of short-term liquidity.
Why it matters: A current ratio above 1.0 means the company can cover its short-term obligations with short-term assets. Below 1.0 means it depends on future cash flow or refinancing. Apple's current ratio of 0.89 looks concerning in isolation but is perfectly manageable given $111.5 billion in annual operating cash flow.
Screener applications: Net-Net Stocks Screen (≥ 2.0), Cash Rich Undervalued Screen (≥ 1.5)
Dilution Ratio
What it measures: Net change in diluted share count — tracking whether share count is increasing (dilution from SBC) or decreasing (net buyback activity).
Why it matters: A company repurchasing $500M in shares annually but issuing $300M through SBC has a net buyback of only $200M. The dilution ratio captures this net effect, distinguishing companies with genuine shrinking share counts from those where buybacks merely offset dilution.
Screener applications: Shareholder Yield Screen (≤ 0, indicating net buyback)
Efficiency Metrics
Efficiency metrics measure how well the business converts its assets and operations into revenue and cash.
Asset Turnover TTM
What it measures: Revenue divided by total assets. How many dollars of revenue each dollar of assets generates.
Why it matters: One leg of the DuPont decomposition. A high asset turnover means the business is capital-efficient — it generates significant revenue per dollar invested. Retailers and distributors tend to have high turnover; capital-intensive industrials and utilities tend to have low turnover.
Screener applications: Efficient Asset Turnover Screen
Receivables Turnover TTM
What it measures: Revenue divided by accounts receivable. How quickly the company collects from customers.
Why it matters: Declining receivables turnover (receivables growing faster than revenue) can signal deteriorating collection efficiency, customer credit stress, or aggressive revenue recognition. Apple's receivables jumped 19% in FY2025 while revenue grew 6.4% — a divergence that only shows up if you track this ratio.
Explore Receivables Turnover TTM →
Inventory Turnover TTM
What it measures: Cost of goods sold divided by average inventory. How quickly the company sells through its inventory.
Why it matters: Rising inventory relative to COGS can signal demand weakness. Falling inventory can signal either efficiency improvements or supply chain constraints. Apple's inventories fell 22% in FY2025 — driven by the iPhone 17 product transition.
Explore Inventory Turnover TTM →
Payables Turnover TTM
What it measures: Cost of goods sold divided by accounts payable. How quickly the company pays its suppliers.
Why it matters: A lower payables turnover (paying suppliers more slowly) can be a sign of negotiating power — the company is effectively borrowing from its supply chain at zero cost. Apple's massive payables balance reflects its dominant position with component suppliers.
Explore Payables Turnover TTM →
Deferred Revenue to Revenue
What it measures: Deferred revenue as a percentage of trailing revenue.
Why it matters: For subscription businesses, a high ratio means a large portion of future revenue is already contracted and collected as cash. It's a balance sheet indicator of revenue quality and forward visibility.
Explore Deferred Revenue to Revenue →
Dividend Metrics
Dividend Yield TTM
What it measures: Annual dividends per share divided by the stock price.
Why it matters: The current income return on the investment. A yield of 3% means you receive $3 in annual dividends for every $100 invested. But yield alone is insufficient — a very high yield often signals an impending dividend cut.
Screener applications: Dividend Growth Screen (≥ 1.5%), Shareholder Yield Screen
Payout Ratio TTM
What it measures: Dividends paid divided by net income. The percentage of earnings distributed as dividends.
Why it matters: A payout ratio above 80% means the company is distributing most of its earnings, leaving little for reinvestment. Above 100% means the dividend exceeds earnings — sustainable only temporarily via cash reserves or debt. Apple's FY2025 payout ratio of 13.8% is conservative, reflecting that the vast majority of capital return comes through buybacks, not dividends.
Screener applications: Dividend Growth Screen
Treasury Stock Change (1-Year)
What it measures: Year-over-year change in treasury stock — a proxy for net buyback activity.
Why it matters: A declining share count through buybacks is a form of shareholder return that doesn't create tax events (unlike dividends). Tracking treasury stock changes reveals the magnitude of the buyback program.
Explore Treasury Stock Change 1Y →
Screener applications: Shareholder Yield Screen
Financial Health Metrics
Altman Z-Score
What it measures: A composite score using five financial ratios (working capital/assets, retained earnings/assets, EBIT/assets, market cap/total liabilities, revenue/assets) that predicts the likelihood of bankruptcy within two years.
Why it matters: Developed by Edward Altman in 1968, the Z-Score remains one of the most reliable quantitative measures of financial distress. A score above 3.0 indicates a healthy company; between 1.81 and 2.99 is a gray zone; below 1.81 indicates distress. GeminIQ computes all five components (labeled Altman A through Altman E) directly from as-filed data.
Screener applications: Altman Z-Score Financial Safety Screen
The 18 Pre-Built Screeners
GeminIQ provides 18 pre-built screener strategies that combine these metrics into established investment frameworks. Each screener page explains the strategy's intellectual history, the specific filter criteria, how to run it in GeminIQ, and what aggregator data misses for that particular screen:
| Screen | Core Metrics | Strategy |
|---|---|---|
| Buffett-Style Screen | ROIC, ROE, D/E, Earnings Growth, P/E | Quality at a fair price |
| Magic Formula | EV/EBIT, ROIC | Greenblatt's earnings yield + capital efficiency |
| GARP Screen | P/E, EPS Growth, Revenue Growth | Growth at a reasonable price |
| Deep Value Screen | P/E, P/B, EV/EBITDA | Classic deep value |
| High ROIC Low Debt | ROIC, D/E | Capital-efficient, conservative balance sheet |
| Quality Compounder | ROIC, ROE, Gross Margin, Revenue Growth | Durable compounders |
| High Free Cash Flow Yield | FCF Yield, D/E | Cash generators |
| Net-Net Stocks | Current Ratio, P/B | Graham-style asset bargains |
| Piotroski F-Score | ROA, Operating CF, D/E, Margins | Financial strength within low P/B universe |
| Altman Z-Score Safe | Altman Z-Score, Debt Ratio | Financial health and stability |
| Low EV/EBITDA | EV/EBITDA | Cheapest on enterprise value basis |
| High Earnings Yield | EV/EBIT | Highest operating earnings yield |
| Dividend Growth Screen | Dividend Yield, Payout Ratio, Dividend Growth | Sustainable and growing dividends |
| Shareholder Yield | Dividend Yield, Dilution Ratio, Treasury Stock Change | Total return to shareholders |
| Cash Rich Undervalued | Net Debt, FCF Yield, Current Ratio | Net cash balance sheets |
| Low Debt High Growth | D/E, Revenue Growth, Operating Margin | Conservative growth |
| Efficient Asset Turnover | Asset Turnover, ROA | Operational efficiency |
| Contrarian Low P/S | P/S, Gross Margin, Revenue Growth | Revenue-based contrarian value |
Every screener result on GeminIQ traces to XBRL-tagged source data. When a company passes your screen, you can verify every input in the original filing.
Why the Data Source Matters for Metrics
Every metric in this guide is a formula applied to underlying financial data. If the inputs have been normalized — debt instruments merged, line items reclassified, cash flows combined — the metric inherits those changes. An ROIC calculated from normalized invested capital will differ from one calculated from as-filed data. A free cash flow yield that includes equity settlement taxes in the buyback figure will show a different number than one that separates them.
GeminIQ computes every metric from XBRL-tagged inputs, sourced directly from SEC EDGAR. The inputs are the numbers the company filed. The formula is transparent. The result is verifiable.
This is what it means to have auditable metrics.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many total metrics can I screen with on GeminIQ? The GeminIQ Stock Screener supports 100+ filterable metrics, including the 50+ calculated KPIs described in this guide and the underlying raw financial line items from the XBRL-tagged data.
How often are metrics updated? Metrics are recalculated whenever new filing data is processed. New 10-K and 10-Q filings are ingested overnight (T+1), so metrics reflect the most recent filing by the next trading day.
Can I build custom metric combinations? Yes. The Stock Screener supports up to 10 stackable conditions with precise operators (greater than, less than, between). You can combine any metrics from any category to build a custom screening strategy. The Custom Tables feature lets you build reusable data templates that pull specific metrics for comparison.
What happens when a metric can't be calculated? Some metrics require inputs that not all companies report — for example, inventory turnover requires an inventory figure, which pure-service companies don't have. When an input is missing from the filing, GeminIQ either omits the metric for that company or flags it as not applicable.
The Bottom Line
Financial metrics are only as good as the data behind them. A ROIC calculated from normalized data that merged three debt instruments into two will be different from one calculated from as-filed data. A free cash flow yield built on a buyback figure that includes tax payments will overstate the apparent cash return.
GeminIQ calculates every metric from XBRL-tagged SEC filing data — no aggregator, no normalization, no proprietary taxonomy. The inputs match the filing. The formulas are transparent. Every number is traceable.
Use this guide as your reference. Use the screeners to find opportunities. Use the financial statements to verify the data. And use the Earnings Market Reaction Heatmap, insider transactions, and institutional ownership to layer behavioral signals on top of the fundamentals.
Most financial websites rely on third-party aggregators that simplify or process data before you ever see it. We built GeminIQ because we believe you deserve a better fundamental analysis tool—one that goes beyond basic price charts and processed numbers. We extract our data directly from SEC 10-K and 10-Q filings to ensure that when you look at a balance sheet or a cash flow statement, you are seeing the numbers exactly how the company reported them. GeminIQ turns raw 10-K and 10-Q filings into traceable financial statements, calculated metrics, charts, screeners, and watchlists for US public company research. Our goal is to give you the tools to verify the narrative for yourself using clean, traceable data. Start researching now at GeminIQ.
Related Blogs
- See why the data source behind these metrics matters — documented discrepancies
- See how to use these metrics when reading a 10-K
- See the post-filing behavioral patterns that complement fundamental metrics
Disclaimer: The content in this blog is for educational and entertainment purposes only and does not constitute financial, legal, or tax advice. Investing involves risk, including the loss of principal. The views expressed are my own and not intended as financial advice or a guarantee of future performance.