Here will take a quick scan of Earnings Yield information on shares of Pioneer Natural Resources Company (NYSE:PXD). Currently, the Earnings to Price (Yield) is 0.043148, Earnings Yield is 0.098376, and Earnings Yield 5 year average is 0.020290. Earnings yield provides a way for investors to help measure returns. Investors may choose to compare the earnings yield of stocks to money market instruments, treasuries, or bonds. The firm will look to it’s next scheduled report date to try to improve on these numbers.

Some investors may be lamenting the fact that they have not taken full advantage of the long bull run. There are plenty of pundits that are calling for a sharp stock market decline, but there are also many who believe that the ceiling has been raised and there is much more room for stocks to go higher. Getting into the market at these levels may be holding some investors back from jumping into the fray, and nobody can be sure which way the momentum will swing as we near the end of the year. The next round of company earnings reports should provide some good information about future prospects. Investors will be closely watching to see which sectors are running at full speed and which ones are lagging. 

Checking in on some valuation rankings, Pioneer Natural Resources Company (NYSE:PXD) has a Value Composite score of 30. Developed by James O’Shaughnessy, the VC score uses five valuation ratios. These ratios are price to earnings, price to cash flow, EBITDA to EV, price to book value, and price to sales. The VC is displayed as a number between 1 and 100. In general, a company with a score closer to 0 would be seen as undervalued, and a score closer to 100 would indicate an overvalued company. Adding a sixth ratio, shareholder yield, we can view the Value Composite 2 score which is currently sitting at 27.

FCF

Turning to Free Cash Flow Growth (FCF Growth) is the free cash flow of the current year minus the free cash flow from the previous year, divided by last year’s free cash flow.  The FCF Growth of Pioneer Natural Resources Company (NYSE:PXD) is -0.981864.  Free cash flow (FCF) is the cash produced by the company minus capital expenditure.  This cash is what a company uses to meet its financial obligations, such as making payments on debt or to pay out dividends.  The Free Cash Flow Score (FCF Score) is a helpful tool in calculating the free cash flow growth with free cash flow stability – this gives investors the overall quality of the free cash flow.  The FCF Score of Pioneer Natural Resources Company (NYSE:PXD) is 0.174164.  Experts say the higher the value, the better, as it means that the free cash flow is high, or the variability of free cash flow is low or both.

Watching some historical volatility numbers on shares of Pioneer Natural Resources Company (NYSE:PXD), we can see that the 12 month volatility is presently 36.081500. The 6 month volatility is 38.513400, and the 3 month is spotted at 37.376500. Following volatility data can help measure how much the stock price has fluctuated over the specified time period. Although past volatility action may help project future stock volatility, it may also be vastly different when taking into account other factors that may be driving price action during the measured time period.  Heading into earnings season investors often take close note of the volatility levels ahead of and immediately after the earnings report. 

Price Index

The Price Index is a ratio that indicates the return of a share price over a past period. The price index of Pioneer Natural Resources Company (NYSE:PXD) for last month was 1.04578. This is calculated by taking the current share price and dividing by the share price one month ago. If the ratio is greater than 1, then that means there has been an increase in price over the month. If the ratio is less than 1, then we can determine that there has been a decrease in price. Similarly, investors look up the share price over 12 month periods. The Price Index 12m for Pioneer Natural Resources Company (NYSE:PXD) is 0.72794.
Price Range 52 Weeks

Some of the best financial predictions are formed by using a variety of financial tools. The Price Range 52 Weeks is one of the tools that investors use to determine the lowest and highest price at which a stock has traded in the previous 52 weeks. The Price Range of Pioneer Natural Resources Company (NYSE:PXD) over the past 52 weeks is 0.672000. The 52-week range can be found in the stock’s quote summary.

Quant Data
Shifting gears, we can see that Pioneer Natural Resources Company (NYSE:PXD) has a Q.i. Value of 32.00000. The Q.i. Value ranks companies using four ratios. These ratios consist of EBITDA Yield, FCF Yield, Liquidity, and Earnings Yield. The purpose of the Q.i. Value is to help identify companies that are the most undervalued. Typically, the lower the value, the more undervalued the company tends to be.

Another signal that many company execs and investors don’t want to talk about is the C-Score. The C-Score is a system developed by James Montier that helps determine whether a company is involved in inflating their financial statements.  The C-Score is calculated by a variety of items, including a growing difference in net income verse cash flow, increasing days outstanding, growing days sales of inventory, increasing assets to sales, declines in depreciation, and high total asset growth.  The C-Score of Pioneer Natural Resources Company (NYSE:PXD) is 2.00000.  The score ranges on a scale of -1 to 6.  If the score is -1, then there is not enough information to determine the C-Score.  If the number is at zero (0) then there is no evidence of fraudulent book cooking, whereas a number of 6 indicates a high likelihood of unusual activity. The C-Score assists investors in assessing the validity of financials. 

F-Score

At the time of writing, Pioneer Natural Resources Company (NYSE:PXD) has a Piotroski F-Score of 6. The F-Score may help discover companies with strengthening balance sheets. The score may also be used to spot the weak performers. Joseph Piotroski developed the F-Score which employs nine different variables based on the company financial statement. A single point is assigned to each test that a stock passes. Typically, a stock scoring an 8 or 9 would be seen as strong. On the other end, a stock with a score from 0-2 would be viewed as weak.

Even though the stock market has been cranking along and touching record highs, there are bound to be some rough patches in the near future. Some investors may actually welcome a pullback in order to scoop up some stocks at a relative discount. Investors who are on top of things are most likely ready to spring when the next big buying opportunity pops up. Being prepared for a buying opportunity can make the process much easier when the time comes. As investors look ahead to the next round of company earnings reports, the focus may gravitate to those companies that have positioned themselves for sustained future growth. Many investors will be closely monitoring which companies outperform by the largest margin after earnings results are released.

Earnings Yield is calculated by taking the operating income or earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) and dividing it by the Enterprise Value of the company.  The Earnings Yield for CGI Inc. (TSX:GIB.A) stands at 0.059193.  Earnings Yield helps investors measure the return on investment for a given company.  Similarly, the Earnings Yield Five Year Average is the five year average operating income or EBIT divided by the current enterprise value.  The Earnings Yield Five Year average for CGI Inc. (TSX:GIB.A) is 0.046238.  Further, the Earnings to Price yield of CGI Inc. TSX:GIB.A is 0.044173.  This is calculated by taking the earnings per share and dividing it by the last closing share price.  This is one of the most popular methods investors use to evaluate a company’s financial performance.

Making the tough buy or sell portfolio decisions is a typical challenge that most investors will eventually face. Trying to separate fact from emotion when making these decisions can be hard. It may be very difficult to part ways with a previously prized stock. Investors may have a checklist that includes certain criteria for portfolio evaluation purposes. When certain stocks no longer meet the guidelines, they may need to be cut loose. This is often easier said than done, especially when a stock has provided a large boost to the portfolio in the past. Investors who are able to successfully keep emotional attachment out of the stock picking process may give themselves a leg up compared to those who are not.     

Quant Signals - Value Composite, C- Score, MF Rank, M-Score, ERP5

The Value Composite One (VC1) is a method that investors use to determine a company’s value.  The VC1 of CGI Inc. (TSX:GIB.A) is 52.  A company with a value of 0 is thought to be an undervalued company, while a company with a value of 100 is considered an overvalued company.  The VC1 is calculated using the price to book value, price to sales, EBITDA to EV, price to cash flow, and price to earnings.  Similarly, the Value Composite Two (VC2) is calculated with the same ratios, but adds the Shareholder Yield.  The Value Composite Two of CGI Inc. (TSX:GIB.A) is 44.

CGI Inc. (TSX:GIB.A) currently has a Montier C-score of 1.00000. This indicator was developed by James Montier in an attempt to identify firms that were altering financial numbers in order to appear better on paper. The score ranges from zero to six where a 0 would indicate no evidence of book cooking, and a 6 would indicate a high likelihood of something amiss. A C-score of -1 would indicate that there is not enough information available to calculate the score. Montier used six inputs in the calculation. These inputs included a growing difference between net income and cash flow from operations, increasing receivable days, growing day’s sales of inventory, increasing other current assets, decrease in depreciation relative to gross property plant and equipment, and high total asset growth.  

The MF Rank (aka the Magic Formula) is a formula that pinpoints a valuable company trading at a good price.  The formula is calculated by looking at companies that have a high earnings yield as well as a high return on invested capital.  The MF Rank of CGI Inc. (TSX:GIB.A) is 2350.  A company with a low rank is considered a good company to invest in.  The Magic Formula was introduced in a book written by Joel Greenblatt, entitled, “The Little Book that Beats the Market”.

CGI Inc. (TSX:GIB.A) has an M-score Beneish of -2.605330. This M-score model was developed by Messod Beneish in order to detect manipulation of financial statements. The score uses a combination of eight different variables. The specifics of the variables and formula can be found in the Beneish paper “The Detection of Earnings Manipulation”.

The last signal we’ll look at is the ERP5 Rank.  The ERP5 Rank is an investment tool that analysts use to discover undervalued companies.  The ERP5 looks at the Price to Book ratio, Earnings Yield, ROIC and 5 year average ROIC.  The ERP5 of CGI Inc. (TSX:GIB.A) is 3296.  The lower the ERP5 rank, the more undervalued a company is thought to be.

Volatility/PI

Stock volatility is a percentage that indicates whether a stock is a desirable purchase.  Investors look at the Volatility 12m to determine if a company has a low volatility percentage or not over the course of a year.  The Volatility 12m of CGI Inc. (TSX:GIB.A) is 15.979100.  This is calculated by taking weekly log normal returns and standard deviation of the share price over one year annualized.  The lower the number, a company is thought to have low volatility.  The Volatility 3m is a similar percentage determined by the daily log normal returns and standard deviation of the share price over 3 months.  The Volatility 3m of CGI Inc. (TSX:GIB.A) is 15.038200.  The Volatility 6m is the same, except measured over the course of six months.  The Volatility 6m is 13.145600.

We can now take a quick look at some historical stock price index data. CGI Inc. (TSX:GIB.A) presently has a 10 month price index of 1.22567. The price index is calculated by dividing the current share price by the share price ten months ago. A ratio over one indicates an increase in share price over the period. A ratio lower than one shows that the price has decreased over that time period. Looking at some alternate time periods, the 12 month price index is 1.24760, the 24 month is 1.61712, and the 36 month is 1.64347. Narrowing in a bit closer, the 5 month price index is 1.08523, the 3 month is 1.03198, and the 1 month is currently 1.00747.

ROIC

The Return on Invested Capital (aka ROIC) for CGI Inc. (TSX:GIB.A) is 1.389359.  The Return on Invested Capital is a ratio that determines whether a company is profitable or not.  It tells investors how well a company is turning their capital into profits.  The ROIC is calculated by dividing the net operating profit (or EBIT) by the employed capital.  The employed capital is calculated by subrating current liabilities from total assets.  Similarly, the Return on Invested Capital Quality ratio is a tool in evaluating the quality of a company’s ROIC over the course of five years.  The ROIC Quality of CGI Inc. (TSX:GIB.A) is 63.630717.  This is calculated by dividing the five year average ROIC by the Standard Deviation of the 5 year ROIC.  The ROIC 5 year average is calculated using the five year average EBIT, five year average (net working capital and net fixed assets).  The ROIC 5 year average of CGI Inc. (TSX:GIB.A) is 1.332361.

When it comes to trading stocks, even veteran investors are prone to making mistakes. Investors will often get bombarded with stock tips touting the next breakout star. Following these tips without fully looking into the situation can wind up being a huge mistake. If even one person knows about the next big stock, chances are many other people already do as well. Getting in too late on a stock that has already made a move can leave investors wondering what went wrong. Taking the time to properly research any stock investment may be a good way to eliminate costly impulse buys. Just because a stock has been running hot doesn’t mean it will continue to go higher in the future.