Glossary > S through Z

S

Sabrient Systems
Sabrient Systems is an independent research firm that provides ratings and reports for Exchange Traded Products (ETP). To learn more about their offering and methodology, see the ETP Research.

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Sales/Turnover (Net)
Gross sales (the amount of actual billings to customers for regular sales completed during a specified period) reduced by cash discounts, trade discounts, and returned sales and allowances for which credit is given to customers. Sales/Turnover (Net) is scaled in millions and reported on a quarterly basis.

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Sales Load
A mutual fund's sales load (also known as a sales charge) is a fee charged on the purchase of fund shares. The fee is charged as a percentage of the fund's offering price (price to buy shares). For higher investment amounts, some funds offer sales load breakpoints.

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Schedule K-1
If you hold units of an investment vehicle taxed as a partnership, you are treated as a partner for tax purposes and will be issued a Schedule K-1 (Form 1065) rather than a Form 1099 form for use in filling out your tax return. A K-1 lists the partner's share of income, deductions, credits, and other tax items. If the data value is Yes, the fund issues a Schedule K-1 for tax purposes. Speak with your tax advisor to determine how this may affect you.

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Score
Scoring is not available for all screens and screening criteria. When available, scores appear in the first column. A score is assigned to each security based on how well it meets the selected criteria values.

Each security in the results set is assigned an overall score from 1 to 100. A score of 100 represents the best match for the criteria and weighting chosen. The securities that most closely match selected criteria appear at the top of the list. The score is designed to help you understand how well each security meets the selected criteria values (default is an equal weighting of each criteria) compared to all other securities in the screening universe. Note that the score does not constitute advice or guidance, nor is it a measure of the suitability of the security as an investment vehicle for you.

You can change the score weighting to focus on the criteria that matter the most to you. In the screener, select "Enable Score Weighting" to overwrite the default of equal-weight percentages and assign a percentage to each criteria you want score weighted, making sure the total equals 100%. This will not change the results set. A new score is calculated and the order of the result list could change.

The overall average score of each security is based on a sub-score assigned to each criteria. To see the sub-scores, select "Score Details" from the View drop-down list.

For example, suppose a stock screen includes the following three criteria:

and the results include the following stocks:

Criteria Actual Value Score Summary
P/E 11 89 better than 89% of all stocks in universe
Earnings growth 18% 74 better than 74% of all stocks in universe
Debt/Equity 5% 84 better than 84% of all stocks in universe

The stock's overall score would be 82, calculated as follows: (89 + 74 + 84) / 3.

Note: The screener score is calculated based upon user-selected screening criteria or in accordance with the Quick or Expert screen. The score is not based upon any information or data provided by Fidelity.

See Working with Search Results for more information.

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Secondary Market
The market for securities previously offered or sold. Investors buy and sell Exchange Traded Products (ETPs) in the secondary market. Only Authorized Participants can create/redeem directly with the ETP through in-kind transactions.

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Sector & Industry
The market segment to which a company belongs, as determined by S&P Capital IQ. S&P Capital IQ uses the Global Industry Classification Standard (GICS)SM, an industry classification system developed by S&P Capital IQ in collaboration with Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI).

GICS is currently comprised of:

A company is assigned to a single GICS sub-industry according to the definition of its principal business activity as determined by S&P Capital IQ and MSCI. Revenues are a significant factor in defining principal business activity; however, earnings analysis and market perception are also important criteria for classification.

GICS was developed in response to the financial community's need for one complete, consistent set of global sector and industry definitions. The GICS standard can be applied to companies globally, in both developed and developing markets, and currently comprises a universe of over 40,000 companies worldwide.

S&P Capital IQ has assigned each company in the stock search database to one of 11 sectors.

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Sector & Industry Descriptions

Consumer Discretionary

The Consumer Discretionary Sector encompasses those industries that tend to be the most sensitive to economic cycles. Its manufacturing segment includes automotive, household durable goods, textiles & apparel and leisure equipment. The services segment includes hotels, restaurants and other leisure facilities, media production and services, and consumer retailing and services.

Consumer Staples

The Consumer Staples Sector comprises companies whose businesses are less sensitive to economic cycles. It includes manufacturers and distributors of food, beverages and tobacco and producers of non-durable household goods and personal products. It also includes food & drug retailing companies as well as hypermarkets and consumer super centers.

Energy

The Energy Sector comprises companies whose businesses are dominated by either of the following activities: The construction or provision of oil rigs, drilling equipment and other energy related service and equipment, including seismic data collection. Companies engaged in the exploration, production, marketing, refining and/or transportation of oil and gas products, coal and other consumable fuels.

Financials

The Financial Sector contains companies involved in activities such as banking, mortgage finance, consumer finance, specialized finance, investment banking and brokerage, asset management and custody, corporate lending, insurance, and financial investment, and real estate, including REITs.

Health Care

The Health Care Sector encompasses two main industry groups. The first includes companies who manufacture health care equipment and supplies or provide health care related services, including distributors of health care products, providers of basic health-care services, and owners and operators of health care facilities and organizations. The second regroups companies primarily involved in the research, development, production and marketing of pharmaceuticals and biotechnology products.

Industrials

The Industrials Sector includes companies whose businesses are dominated by one of the following activities: The manufacture and distribution of capital goods, including aerospace & defense, construction, engineering & building products, electrical equipment and industrial machinery. The provision of commercial services and supplies, including printing, employment, environmental and office services. The provision of transportation services, including airlines, couriers, marine, road & rail and transportation infrastructure.

Information Technology

The Information Technology Sector covers the following general areas: firstly, Technology Software & Services, including companies that primarily develop software in various fields such as the Internet, applications, systems, databases management and/or home entertainment, and companies that provide information technology consulting and services, as well as data processing and outsourced services; secondly Technology Hardware & Equipment, including manufacturers and distributors of communications equipment, computers & peripherals, electronic equipment and related instruments; and thirdly, Semiconductors & Semiconductor Equipment Manufacturers.

Materials

The Materials Sector encompasses a wide range of commodity-related manufacturing industries. Included in this sector are companies that manufacture chemicals, construction materials, glass, paper, forest products and related packaging products, and metals, minerals and mining companies, including producers of steel.

Real Estate

Telecommunication Services

The Telecommunications Services Sector contains companies that provide communications services primarily through a fixed-line, cellular, wireless, high bandwidth and/or fiber optic cable network.

Utilities

The Utilities Sector encompasses those companies considered electric, gas or water utilities, or companies that operate as independent producers and/or distributors of power.

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Sector-Based Exchange Traded Products (ETPs)
Exchange Traded Products (ETPs) that invest in the stocks of one specific sector of the economy, such as health care, chemicals, or retailing. These funds tend to be more volatile than funds holding a diversified portfolio of stocks in many industries.

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Sector & Industry Exposure
Percentage of the market value of the stocks held by the ETP in the previous day's Basket Holdings assigned to the ten GICs sectors. A company is assigned to a single GICs sector and industry according to the definition of its principal business activity as determined by S&P Capital IQ and MSCI.

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Security Name
The full name or description of a security, such as a stock or mutual fund name.

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Security Type
Sub classification of securities is provided by Thomson Reuters.

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7-Day Analyst Consensus (Down)
A net negative change in analyst Consensus Rating or average available analyst ratings over the last seven days.

If results are shown in quintiles, the universe of searched stocks is all stocks with a consensus number that went up (degraded) over the time period. When you enter a specific value or range of values, enter a positive number to specify the change. All numbers are absolute numbers representing the magnitude of the change, which can vary from 0 to 4.

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7-Day Analyst Consensus (Upgrade)
A net positive change in analyst Consensus Rating or average available analyst ratings over the last seven days.

If results are shown in quintiles, the universe of searched stocks is all stocks with a consensus number that went down (improved) over the time period. When you enter a specific value or range of values, enter a positive number to specify the change. All numbers are absolute numbers representing the magnitude of the change, which can vary from 0 to 4.

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SG&A Expense / Net Sales
Expenses incurred from sales, administrative needs, and any other general purposes as a percentage of sales.

A higher SG&A expense relative to sales might indicate that the company has been spending as if it were a larger company, which would suggest that increased revenue would make the company more profitable.

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Shareholders' Equity
The common and preferred shareholders' interest in the company. Shareholders' Equity represents the sum of Total Common/Ordinary Equity and Preferred/Preference Stock. Data is represented each quarter in millions of dollars.

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Shares
For stocks, options, and mutual funds, the number of shares of a security you specify when creating or editing a watch list. A negative number of shares indicates shares from a short sale. For a Fidelity variable annuity investment option, the number of units owned. This price is entered for tracking purposes and is used to display gain/loss or quote information when using the Gain/Loss or Quotes views.

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Shares Outstanding
The number of shares currently held by investors, including restricted shares owned by the company's officers and insiders, as well as those held by the public. Shares that have been repurchased by the company are not considered outstanding. Also referred to as "issued and outstanding" if all repurchased shares have been retired.

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Shares Outstanding for Exchange Traded Products (ETP)
ETP shares currently held by investors, Also referred to as "issued and outstanding".

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Shares-Out Weighted Index
The weight of each security in the index will be based on the number of shares outstanding regardless of market price.

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Sharpe Ratio
A risk-adjusted measure developed by Nobel Laureate William Sharpe. It is calculated by using standard deviation and excess return to determine reward per unit of risk. The higher the Sharpe Ratio, the better the fund's historical risk-adjusted performance. The Sharpe ratio is calculated for the past 36-month period by dividing a fund's annualized excess returns by the standard deviation of a fund's annualized excess returns. Since this ratio uses standard deviation as its risk measure, it is most appropriately applied when analyzing a fund that is an investor's sole holding. The Sharpe Ratio can be used to compare two funds directly on how much risk a fund had to bear to earn excess return over the risk-free rate.

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Short Exposure
A classification of an ETPs exposure to securities that are invested in short positions. A short position is represented by a negative weight.

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Short Interest Days to Cover
A ratio that shows the outstanding short positions in a company's stock or Exchange Traded Product's (ETP) with respect to average daily trading volume. The higher the ratio, the more likely the security will rise additionally when its price moves up due to short sellers repurchasing their positions. For example, if a security has average daily volume of 1 million shares and 2 million shares are currently short sold short, the shares have a days to cover rate of 2 (2M/1M). The higher the days to cover, the more pronounced this effect can be.

Days to Cover is calculated using the Current Shares Short or Short Interest (actual shares) divided by the Average Daily Share Volume. Both figures are reported monthly by the exchange the security is traded. If days to cover is between 0 and 1, it is rounded up to 1.

AMEX and NYSE Average Daily Volume is calculated by dividing the monthly consolidated trading volume by the number of trading days in the month. NASDAQ defines Average Daily Share Volume as the number of shares of the security traded each day, averaged over a rolling one-year period.

This measurement is of a security's issued shares that are currently shorted, expressed as the number of days required to close out all of the short positions. Current Short position divided by the average daily volume.

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Short Interest (actual shares)
The total number of shares of a security that have been sold short by customers and securities firms that have not repurchased to settle outstanding short positions in the market; the net short positions outstanding in the stock as of the settlement date. The number is provided monthly by the exchange where the stock is listed.

Short Interest is often used to evaluate market sentiment. Many investors believe that rising short interest positions in a stock is a bearish indicator, as there is an increase in the amount of investors who believe the stock will decrease. Contrarian investors, on the other hand, feel that a large short interest position is a predecessor to the rise in the price of a stock, since short positions must eventually be covered (meaning that there may be more purchasers of the stock who in turn drive the price up).

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Short Interest as % of Shares Outstanding
Short Interest actual shares divided by current Shares Outstanding expressed as a percentage. Short Interest actual shares is provided monthly by the exchange on which the security is listed.

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Short Interest as % Change (from previous month)
The change in the Short Interest actual shares when compared to the previous month, expressed as a percentage.

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Short-Term Capital Gains
On the screener and research pages, this refers to gains on a security held 12 months or less. If the security has not been sold, the gains are generally considered to be "unrealized". If the security is sold, the gains are generally considered to be "realized". ETPs may issue short-term capital gain distributions derived from the short-term capital gains of the fund. For individuals who realize gains from the sale of their securities, the gains since purchase may not be the same as what is reportable for tax purposes because of adjustments to tax basis and the potential applicability of tax rules specific to an investor's particular tax situation. At the federal level, realized short-term capital gains in taxable accounts are usually taxed at the ordinary income tax rate.

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Simple Moving Average (SMA)
SMA returns the Simple Moving Average indicator. Moving averages are one of the core indicators in technical analysis, and there are a variety of different versions. SMA is the easiest moving average to construct. It is simply the average price over the specified Period. The average is called "Moving" because it is plotted on the chart bar by bar, forming a line that moves along the chart as the average value changes.

Interpretation:

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Slow Stochastic
Slow Stochastic compares a security's closing price relative to its price range over a given time period. As with Moving Average, the sensitivity increases with shorter time spans. Two or more stochastics may be used with different time spans on a single chart to develop cross-over signals. This method is used to spot trend reversals with fairly good accuracy.

A stochastic indicator is plotted as two lines, %D and %K, with values ranging from 0 to 100. Readings above 80 are strong and indicate that price is closing near its high. Readings below 20 are strong and indicate that price is closing near its low. Ordinarily, the %K line changes direction before the %D line. However, when the %D line changes direction prior to the %K line, a slow and steady reversal is usually indicated. A flattening-out of the %K or %D lines indicates that a trend is likely to reverse during the next trading range.

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Small Blend
Funds that invest in a variety of small U.S. stocks. Stocks in the bottom 10% of the capitalization of the U.S. equity market are defined as small-cap. The blend style is assigned to funds where neither growth nor value characteristics predominate.

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Small Growth
Funds that invest primarily in small U.S. stocks that are growth-oriented. Stocks in the bottom 10% of the capitalization of the U.S. equity market are defined as small-cap. Growth is defined based on fast growth (high growth rates for earnings, sales, book value, and cash flow) and high valuations (high price ratios and low dividend yields).

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Small Value
Funds that invest primarily in small U.S. stocks that are value-oriented. Stocks in the bottom 10% of the capitalization of the U.S. equity market are defined as small-cap. Value is defined based on low valuations (low price ratios and high dividend yields) and slow growth (low growth rates for earnings, sales, book value, and cash flow).

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Specialty-Communications
Morningstar category for investment products that seek capital appreciation by investing primarily in communications stocks

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Specialty-Financial
Morningstar category for investment products that seek capital appreciation by investing primarily in equity securities of U.S. or non-U.S. financial-services companies, including banks, brokerage firms, and insurance companies.

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Specialty-Health
Morningstar category for investment products that seek capital appreciation by investing primarily in equity securities of U.S. or non-U.S. health-care companies, including drug manufacturers, hospitals, and biotechnology firms.

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Specialty-Natural Resources
Morningstar category for investment products that seek capital appreciation by investing primarily in equity securities of U.S. or non-U.S. companies involved in the exploration, distribution, or processing of natural resources.

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Specialty-Precious Metals
Morningstar category for investment products that seek capital appreciation by investing primarily in equity securities of companies engaged in the mining, distribution, or processing of precious metals.

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Specialty-Real Estate
Morningstar category for investment products that seek capital appreciation by investing primarily in U.S. or non-U.S. real-estate-related equity securities.

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Specialty-Technology
Morningstar category for investment products that seek capital appreciation by investing primarily in hardware, software, and communications technology.

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Specialty-Unaligned
Morningstar category for investment products that seek capital appreciation by concentrating their investments in a single industry or sector other than those described above/below. Sector ETPs may be more volatile than ETPs that diversify across many industries.

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Specialty-Utilities
Morningstar category for investment products that seek capital appreciation by investing primarily in equity securities of U.S. or non-U.S. public utilities including electric, gas, and telephone-service providers.

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Sponsor
An underwriting company that offers shares of a fund, or a manager or organization that creates an Open or Closed End Fund by filing the appropriate regulatory material and soliciting and approving an authorized participant to create and redeem shares. It is updated by Marco Polo XTF as necessary and as stated in the prospectus.

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Standard & Poor's Credit Rating
The latest rating assigned by Standard & Poors® to indicate its opinion of the relative credit risk of the preferred security. It is based on S&P's proprietary analysis of the security at the time the rating was issued and is subject to change at any time.

S&P is a registered service mark of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

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Split Factor
The multiplier used to adjust the number of shares you own when a stock splits.

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Standard & Poor's Equity Research
Standard & Poor's Equity Research is an independent research firm that provides ratings and reports for stocks and Exchange Traded Products (ETP). To learn more about their offering and methodology

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S&P Capital IQ Earnings & Dividend Rank
The S&P Capital IQ's Earnings and Dividend Ranking System measures the historical growth of earnings and dividends. Those companies with high growth in earnings and dividends rank higher than companies whose earnings and dividends grow more slowly or not at all. The starting point in the ranking process is a computerized scoring system based on per-share earnings and dividend records over the most recent 10-year period, a time period sufficient to measure a company's performance under varying economic conditions. The system measures growth, stability within the trendline, and cyclicality. From these, scores for earnings and dividends are determined. The system makes allowances for company size, since large companies have certain inherent advantages over smaller ones.

Once computed, a final score is measured against a scoring matrix. The results are reviewed and sometimes modified, because no mechanical system can evaluate the many special considerations that could effect a company's earnings and dividend record.

S&P Capital IQ's Earnings and Dividend Ranking System has seven grades:

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S&P Capital IQ Fair Value Rank
The price at which a stock should sell today as calculated by S&P Capital IQ's computers using a quantitative model based on the company's earnings, growth potential, return on equity relative to the Standard and Poor's 500 (S&P 500) and its industry group, price to book ratio history, current yield relative to the S&P 500, and other factors. The current fair price is shown given today's S&P 500 level. Each stock's fair value is calculated weekly.

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Standard & Poor's 500 (S&P 500)
An unmanaged market-weighted index of 500 of the nation's largest stocks from a broad variety of industries. The S&P 500 represents about 80% of the total market value of all stocks on the New York Stock Exchange. Market-weighted means that component stocks are weighted according to the total value of their outstanding shares.

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Standard & Poor's Midcap 400 Index (S&P 400)
An unmanaged, market capitalization-weighted index of 400 medium-capitalization domestic stocks chosen for market size, liquidity, and industry group representation.

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S&P Capital IQ Relative Strength Rank
On a scale of 1 (lowest) to 99 (highest), a relative measure of strength as to how a stock has performed compared with all other companies in S&P Capital IQ's universe of companies on a rolling 13-week basis.

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S&P Capital IQ STARS Rank
Buy, hold or sell recommendations are provided using S&P Capital IQ's unique Stock Appreciation Ranking System (STARS), which measures short-term (six- to 12-month) appreciation potential of stocks. STARS performance is measured against the performance of the S&P 500.

For Europe, the same holds, but the appropriate benchmark is the Europe 350 Index. For Asia, the appropriate benchmark is the S&P Asia 50.

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S&P Capital IQ Technical Evaluation
An indicator used to identify whether the technical analysis signals a bearish (1), bullish (2), or neutral (3) outlook on the stock.

In researching the past market history of prices and trading volume for each company, S&P Capital IQ's computer models apply special technical methods and formulas to identify and project price trends for the stock. They analyze how the price of the stock is moving and evaluate the interrelationships between the moving averages to ultimately determine buy or sell signals, and to decide whether they're bullish, neutral or bearish for the stock. The date on which the signals were initiated is also provided so you can take advantage of a recent or ongoing uptrend in price or see how a stock has performed over time since our last technical signal was generated.

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Standard Deviation
Standard Deviation is the statistical measure of market volatility. If prices trade in a tight narrow trading range then the standard deviation will return a low value indicating volatility is low. Conversely if prices swing wildly up and down then standard deviation returns a high value indicating volatility is high. What it does is measure how widely prices are dispersed from the average or mean price.

Interpretation:

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Standard Deviation for Exchange Traded Funds
A statistical measurement of dispersion about an average, which, for an Exchange Traded Product (ETP), depicts how widely the returns varied over a certain period of time. Investors use the standard deviation of historical performance to try to predict the range of returns that are most likely for a given product. When an ETP has a high standard deviation, the predicted range of performance is wide, implying greater volatility. Standard deviation is most appropriate for measuring risk if it is for an ETP that is an investor's only holding. The figure can not be combined for more than one product because the standard deviation for a portfolio of multiple products is a function of not only the individual standard deviations, but also of the degree of correlation among the funds' returns. If an ETP's returns follow a normal distribution, then approximately 68 percent of the time they will fall within one standard deviation of the mean return for the fund, and 95 percent of the time within two standard deviations. Morningstar computes standard deviation using the trailing monthly total returns for the appropriate time period. All of the monthly standard deviations are then annualized. Standard Deviation is available for 1, 3 and 5 year periods.

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Standard Error
Returns the Standard Error of the estimate for a Linear Regression line of the specified Period. Standard Error measures the difference between actual price and the estimated price of the Linear Regression line at every point along the line. The lower the standard error, the closer actual prices have met the estimate. If all the closing prices matched the Linear Regression values for the specified period, then the Standard Error would be Zero.

Interpretation:

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Standardized Opinion
Standardized Opinion is provided by Investars, a third-party research firm that collects and standardizes opinions from over 100 firms using a five-point scale to make it easier for you to compare one firm's opinion to another's.

Opinions vary because they are derived using a variety of criteria that are as different and distinct as the firm performing the analysis. For example, one firm's opinion of Strong Buy may be the equivalent to another's opinion of Overweight; that is why Fidelity.com provides access to both the firm opinion and a standard opinion from Investars.

Standardized Opinion
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Stochastics Oscillator
The Stochastic Oscillator measures how much price tends to close in the upper or lower areas of its trading range. The indicator can range from 0 to 100. Values near 0 indicate that most of the recent price action closed near the days lows, and readings near 100 indicate that prices are closing near the upper range.

The Stochastic is a momentum indicator. The closing price tends to close near the high in an uptrend and near the low in a downtrend. If the closing price then slips away from the high or the low, then momentum is slowing. Stochastics are most effective in broad trading ranges or slow moving trends.

Two lines are graphed, the fast oscillating %K and a moving average of %K, commonly referred to as %D. Two parameters are entered as follows:

Interpretation: The classic way to interpret the Stochastic is to wait for %K to reach an extreme level. A level above 70 typically indicates an overbought condition, while below 30 indicates an oversold level. While these penetrations of extreme levels indicate a warning, the actual buy/sell signals occur when %K crosses %D

Stochastics Slow
Stochastics Slow displays two lines, %D from the Stochasitcs Fast and smoothed version of the %D In other words, it is a simple moving average of %K and a simple moving average of the simple moving average of %K. The second moving average is referred %to as %D-Slow. Three parameters are entered as follows:

Interpretation:

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StochRSI
The Stochastic RSI indicator, developed by Tushard Chande and Stanley Kroll, is an oscillator that uses RSI values, instead of price values, as inputs in the Stochasitc formula. The indicator measures where the RSI�s current value is relative to its high/low range for the specified period.

Like RSI, StochRSI cycles between overbought levels above 80 and oversold levels below 20. The StochRSI reaches these levels much more frequently than RSI. StochRSI moves within the range of 0 to 100. Unlike RSI, StochRSI frequently reaches the extreme 0 and 100 levels.

Interpretation:

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Security Price
The price of a common share of stock in the company, as reported by the Nasdaq, American Stock Exchange, or New York Stock Exchange. If the market is open, the price is updated throughout the day. If the market closed, the price is the closing price from the previous day.

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Stock Research Firm Analysis Approach

Fundamental Analysis
Fundamental analysis focuses on understanding the core value of a business. The first step in fundamental analysis is typically the analysis of a company's financial statements. Fundamental analysis also involves analyzing many other areas of a business such as the quality of the company's marketing or brand, its distribution network, the value added by its products, the firm's strategy, its operational capabilities, and the firm's competitors.

Technical Analysis
Technical analysis focuses on market action - specifically, volume and price. Technical analysis assumes that the market has already taken into account the fundamentals of a company, and it is only investors' buying and selling decisions that drive future stock price movements. There are many different technical analysis tools that are used, including indicators, trend lines, and chart patterns. All of these different tools, however, are based on analysis of volume and price.

Environmental, Social & Governance (ESG)
This analysis focuses on understanding a firm's impact in non-financial terms. Environmental analysis focuses on understanding a firm's physical impact on the world around it. Social measures look at how a firm treats its employees and interacts with the surrounding community. Finally, governance looks at how a firm manages itself - how it pays its officers, interacts with its shareholders, etc.

How to Choose
When considering what stocks to buy or sell, you'll need to use the approach that you're most comfortable with. There are many people who believe fundamental analysis is the only way to go in researching stock; others believe that it's investors' decisions based on the technical analysis (i.e., buying and selling patterns), that really matter. Still others adopt a blend, using fundamental analysis to determine what stocks they want to buy and then technical analysis to help them decide when to buy the stock.

Learn more about fundamental vs. technical research (PDF)

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Stock Research Firm Equity Style

Growth
A research firm that adheres to a growth style believes that growth prospects or growth history is the most important factor in valuing a company. They may look at revenue growth, profit growth, or margin growth, but they all try to identify stocks worth owning based on growth that is not being recognized in a company's stock price.

Value
A research firm that adheres to a value style tries to buy companies whose assets are underpriced. Those assets may be physical assets, like equipment and real estate or streams of revenue and profits from customers. They may also include intangibles such as brand or reputation. Value investing is often associated with Graham and Dodd, and their book Security Analysis.

How to Choose
While investors may be comfortable with a growth or a value approach to investing, it's also important to look at the markets and see whether value or growth stocks are being favored. During periods when growth stocks are leading, you may see the performance of value-oriented research firms lag. Conversely, when value stocks are leading, growth-oriented research firms' performance may lag. Also, in certain industries or sectors, one of the approaches may be more typically used. Or conversely, when value stocks are leading, growth-oriented research firms' performance may lag. Also, in certain industries or sectors, one approach or the other may be more typically used.

Learn more about growth vs. value research (PDF)

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Stock Research Firm Methodology

Analyst-Driven Methodology
Firms that take an analyst-driven approach have experts review market conditions and data as well as company information to create a recommendation. Typically, research firms have an approach or model that they use as a starting point for analysis to ensure a degree of consistency across multiple analysts.

The advantage of following a firm that has analyst-driven research is in the flexibility and insight that an individual can bring to the analysis. Critical market news or other developments that might be important to the future price of a stock generally won't be included in pure quantitative models. For example, consider a pharmaceutical company that has a critical drug review pending with the FDA. An analyst would typically review and discuss the potential impact of that upcoming drug and include that analysis in making a recommendation. Finally, another reason people use analyst-driven research is for the quality of the writing and insight that only a person can really bring to this work.

Quantitative Model-Driven Methodology
Firms that take a model-driven approach use quantitative models that process company financial data and market information (stock price and volume) to drive recommendations. Models are generally built and fine-tuned over a period of many years through a rigorous analytic process. Quantitative models are not subject to influence or interference from outside sources, so they are objective in that respect. They impose discipline and consistency on the research firm.

Because much of the analytical work is performed by computers, these firms are often able to cover a broader range of stocks, as well as update their recommendations more frequently based on company financial changes or market changes. There are many types of models in use by firms that may generate differing recommendations.

Other Methodologies
A few firms provide specialized analysis that can help you in researching stocks, including:

Often, this type of research is used to complement or support other, more typical types of research.

How to Choose
As you think about which research firms to use, keep these three things in mind:

  1. Review the firm score cards to see how well the firm's research ratings have performed in the past.
  2. Look for a firm whose approach is consistent with your approach to investing. If you are an investor who prefers to own value stocks, then look for a research provider that stresses a value equity style.
  3. Be sure to read sample reports from the firms whose research you're considering to ensure they provide you the information and insight that you are looking for.

Keep in mind that you may also want to combine research methodologies. For example, you may want to follow the recommendations of a quantitative firm, read the reports from an analyst-driven firm, and complement that with insight from a supporting research firm.

Learn more about analyst vs. model research (PDF)

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Strategy
A type of Exchange Traded Product (ETP) that is constructed to mirror a specific strategy. These strategies include, but are not limited to asset allocation, Buy/Write, 130/30, and investment strategies from leading research firms. The goal of such an ETP is to track the index defined by its predetermined strategy.

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Style Exposure
A classification of an ETFs exposure based on its underlying constituent's value and/or growth characteristics. Style exposure is updated daily and is calculated by Marco Polo XTF using constituent assets aggregated and mapped to corresponding category.

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StyleMaps from Morningstar
Equity StyleMap® depictions of characteristics are produced by Fidelity using data from Morningstar, Inc. StyleMaps estimate characteristics of a fund's equity holdings over two dimensions: market capitalization and valuation. StyleMap characteristics represent an approximate profile of the fund's equity holdings (e.g., domestic stocks, foreign stocks, and American Depositary Receipts), are based on historical data, and are not predictive of the fund's future investments. Although the data are gathered from reliable sources, accuracy and completeness cannot be guaranteed.

Fixed Income StyleMap® depictions of characteristics are produced by Fidelity using data from Morningstar, Inc. The fixed income style box is based on the two pillars of fixed-income performance: interest-rate sensitivity and credit quality. The three interest sensitivity groups are limited, moderate and extensive and the three credit quality groups are high, medium and low. These groupings display a portfolio's effective duration and third party credit ratings to provide an overall representation of the fund's risk orientation given the sensitivity to interest rate and credit rating of bonds in the portfolio.

Interest Rate Sensitivity: On a monthly basis Morningstar calculates duration breakpoints based around the 3 year effective duration of the Morningstar Core Bond Index (MCBI).

  1. Limited: where the fund's three year average effective duration falls under 75% of the three year average effective duration of the MCBI (Morningstar Core Bond Index).
  2. Moderate: where the fund's three year average effective duration falls between 75% and 125% of the three year average effective duration of the MCBI (Morningstar Core Bond Index).
  3. Extensive: where the fund's three year average effective duration falls above 125% of the three year average effective duration of the MCBI (Morningstar Core Bond Index).

Credit Quality: Based on following breakpoints Morningstar maps the calculated average asset weighted letter credit rating for all portfolios on the vertical axis of the style box:

  1. Low: where the fund's asset weighted average credit rating is less than "BBB-"
  2. Medium: where the fund's asset weighted average credit rating is less than "AA-" but greater or equal to "BBB-"
  3. High: where the fund's asset weighted average credit rating is "AA-" and higher

The data which drives the fixed income style box is surveyed from fund companies. Morningstar asks fund companies to send the following information on a monthly or quarterly basis for each of their fixed income or allocation funds.

Current StyleMap characteristics are denoted with a dot and are updated periodically. Historical StyleMap characteristics are calculated for the shorter of either the past three years or the life of the fund, and are represented by the shading of the box(es) previously occupied by the dot. The percentage of fund assets represented by these holdings is indicated beside each StyleMap. StyleMap characteristics represent an approximate profile of the fund's holdings, are based on historical data, and are not predictive of the fund's future investments. Although the data are gathered from reliable sources, accuracy and completeness cannot be guaranteed.

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Symbol
An identifier used throughout the financial community to identify a security.

To allow you to get quotes, view investment options in watch lists, or view historical price charts for variable annuity investment options, Fidelity created trading symbols for them. These symbols for Fidelity variable annuity investment options are not recognized on exchanges, in trading markets (e.g., New York Stock Exchange or Nasdaq), on external Web sites that provide quotes and other information for securities, or by other financial institutions.

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T

Target Price Range
A price range in which price movement may approach the height of a classic pattern, thereby "establishing" the pattern. The height of the pattern and the price movement (the amount the price may move away from the breakout price) depend on the pattern type. Target Price Range depends on these factors, and is not a guaranteed price movement. Technical Events and the possible price movement that they suggest should be used as additional information in a more comprehensive research process about a financial instrument.

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Tax Cost Ratio
The Morningstar Tax Cost Ratio measures how much a fund's annualized return is reduced by the taxes investors pay on distributions. Mutual funds regularly distribute stock dividends, bond dividends and capital gains to their shareholders. Investors then must pay taxes on those distributions during the year they were received.

Like an expense ratio, the tax cost ratio is a measure of how one factor can negatively impact performance. Also like an expense ratio, it is usually concentrated in the range of 0-5%. 0% indicates that the fund had no taxable distributions and 5% indicates that the fund was less tax efficient.

For example, if a fund had a 2% tax cost ratio for the three-year time period, it means that on average each year, investors in that fund lost 2% of their assets to taxes. If the fund had a three-year annualized pre-tax return of 10%, an investor in the fund took home about 8% on an after-tax basis. (Because the returns are compounded, the after-tax return is actually 7.8%.)

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Technical Events®
Technical Events occur when recognizable patterns appear in the trendline of a security price chart as identified by third party, Recognia. Technical analysis of a chart attempts to determine the direction, strength, and duration of the trend, in order to forecast the most profitable moment to execute a trade. For further technical analysis explanatory details, click on the "More..." link on the detail technical event page or click on any of the hyperlinked terms on the page.

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Technical Event Date®
The "event date" is the date on which the Technical Event® occurred.

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10-Yr/LOF Return
The average load-adjusted return over the last 10 years, or for the life of a mutual fund (LOF) if the fund has not been in existence for 10 years, updated monthly.

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30-Day Analyst Consensus (Down)
A net negative change in analyst Consensus Rating or average available analyst ratings over the last 30 days.

If results are shown in quintiles, the universe of searched stocks is all stocks with a consensus number that went up (degraded) over the time period. When you enter a specific value or range of values, enter a positive number to specify the change. All numbers are absolute numbers representing the magnitude of the change, which can vary from 0 to 4.

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30-Day Analyst Consensus (Upgrade)
A net positive change in analyst Consensus Rating or average available analyst ratings over the last 30 days.

If results are shown in quintiles, the universe of searched stocks is all stocks with a consensus number that went down (improved) over the time period. When you enter a specific value or range of values, enter a positive number to specify the change. All numbers are absolute numbers representing the magnitude of the change, which can vary from 0 to 4.

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Technical Support and Resistance Levels
The notion of support and resistance levels are a key concept within technical analysis theory. It is based on the idea that buying and selling decisions, on both an individual and market level, are influenced by psychological factors. A level is considered as a support if, every time a stock price tries to break this threshold on the down side, it fails and heads back up. A resistance level, on the other hand, is a price level that a stock will have difficulty moving above. The more often a stock tests a support or resistance without breaking it, the more significant the level becomes. As the significance of a level increases, any eventual breakout of that level, would lead to a stronger follow-through move towards the next support or resistance level. Frequently, a previous support (or resistance) that has been broken, would reverse into a new resistance (or support).

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Thomson Reuters/Verus
Thomson Reuters/Verus recommendation (not a Thomson consensus recommendation). Thomson Reuters provides a comprehensive stock report with in-depth analytics on individual companies. The Company-In-Context report's user-friendly format provides financial advisors, investment bankers, and money managers with powerful insight to help drive their client's investment strategies.

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Thomson Reuters StarMine
Thomson Reuters StarMine, a division of Thomson Reuters, provides independent, objective ratings by measuring securities analysts around the globe on the return of stock opinions and the accuracy of earnings estimates.

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Thomson Reuters StarMine Relative Accuracy Score
The Thomson Reuters StarMine Relative Accuracy Score, a measure of the relative historical accuracy of the firm's opinions in the stock's sector among its peers over the last 24 months. Thomson Reuters StarMine, a division of Thomson Reuters focuses primarily on building quantitative factor models for institutional investors. For over five years for Fidelity.com, Thomson Reuters StarMine has run its sophisticated scoring system to facilitate a comparison of research provider recommendation performance across widely disparate industries and market conditions. The Thomson Reuters StarMine Relative Accuracy Score is calculated using a universe consisting of sell-side and independent research providers. For purposes of calculating the Equity Summary Score, the universe of providers in the Thomson Reuters StarMine Relative Accuracy Score is limited to opinions from the independent research providers on Fidelity.com. The Thomson Reuters StarMine Relative Accuracy Score for each research provider uses the past performance of the provider's individual stock recommendations with that of its peers in each sector to calculate a statistical aggregation ranging from 1 to 100. It is calculated over a 24-month period based on the performance of a research firm within a given sector against its peer set of other firms in the market rating stocks in this sector.

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Thomson Reuters StarMine Predicted Surprise
A calculation provided by Thomson Reuters StarMine that equals the difference between Current Consensus and the Thomson Reuters StarMine SmartEstimate.

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Thomson Reuters StarMine SmartEstimate
A calculation provided by Thomson Reuters StarMine used to estimate a stock's earnings or revenue. SmartEstimates take into consideration an analyst's accuracy and timeliness of estimates, rather than relying on a simple average of analyst estimates.

To estimate a stock's earnings or revenue, many investors use the simple average of analyst estimates, often referred to as the consensus or mean. Using a mean places equal weight on each analyst's estimate, regardless of whether the estimate was issued two or 200 days ago, and regardless of whether the analyst is more or less accurate in covering a stock/sector. Thomson Reuters StarMine goes further by

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Ticker Symbol
A series of letters (or a single letter) used to identify a security.

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Today's Change
The change in a stock's price since the last close.

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Today's Volume
The number of shares traded today. If you signed the Nasdaq user agreement, the figure uses real-time data. If you have not signed the Nasdaq user agreement, the figure uses delayed data.

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Today's Volume vs. 10-Day Average Volume
Today's volume divided by the same number measured over the last 10 days. If you signed the Nasdaq user agreement, the calculation uses real-time data. If you have not signed the Nasdaq user agreement, the calculation uses delayed data.

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Total
In the Gain/Loss view of a watch list, Total is either the total dollar value across all securities in a watch list, or the total gain or loss across all securities in a watch list.

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Total Assets
Total Current Assets plus total non-current assets. Non-current assets include property, plant and equipment, and other non-current receivables and investments.

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Total Debt/Assets
A ratio used with other ratios to indicate the level of risk a company is taking in financing its operations. Total Debt/Assets is calculated by dividing Total Debt (both short and long term) by Total Assets (both current and non-current) for a specified time period. Time periods measured include:

If Total Debt/Assets is greater than 1, a company has more debt than assets.

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Total Debt to Capital Ratio
A ratio indicating what proportion of capital and debt a company is using to finance its assets. Unlike debt to equity, debt to capital results in a number between zero (no debt) and 100 (no capital). Total Debt to Capital Ratio is calculated by dividing Total Debt by Capital (shareholders' equity plus long-term debt) for a specified time period. Time periods measured include:

A higher Total Debt to Capital Ratio means the company is using a lot of financial leverage. A highly-leveraged company will give stock holders outsized returns when the company is doing well, but the risk of bankruptcy is much higher when the company stops doing well. If you want to figure out whether a company has the right amount of leverage, you can compare its leverage with the leverage of other companies in the same industry.

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Total Debt to Equity Ratio
Total Debt (Short Term Debt plus Long Term Debt) divided by Shareholders' Equity for a specified time period. Time periods include:

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Total Distribution Rate (Market Price)
Closed-end funds have distribution rates, not yields or dividend rates. The distribution can be comprised of dividends, interest income, realized capital gains, and return of capital. The Total Distribution Rate (Market Price) is calculated as the last declared distribution, annualized and divided by the current market price. This is the rate investors will realize as a percentage of the market price.

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Total Distribution Rate (NAV)
Closed-end funds have distribution rates, not yields or dividend rates. The distribution can be comprised of dividends, interest income, realized capital gains, and return of capital. The Total Distribution Rate (NAV) is calculated as the last declared distribution, annualized and divided by the most recent net asset value per share. This rate can be thought of as what the fund's investment portfolio would need to yield in order to meet the current distribution amount.

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Total Expense Ratio Reported
This is the expense ratio as reported by the fund for its most recent fiscal year.

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Total Expense Ratio Reported Adjusted
By regulation, closed-end funds utilizing debt for leverage must report their interest expense as part of their total expense ratio. This happens even if the leverage is profitable. Funds utilizing preferred shares or Non-1940 Act Leverage are not required to report the cost of leverage as part of their expense ratio. To make for useful comparison between closed-end funds and with both open-end funds and exchange-traded funds, the adjusted expense ratio excludes interest expense from the calculation. In addition, Morningstar adjusts the calculation's denominator, basing it on average daily (or in the case of weekly-reported net assets, average weekly) net assets.

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Total Extra Dividends (TTM)
See Dividend Analytics.

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Total Extra Dividends Previous Year (TTM)
See Dividend Analytics.

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Total Leverage Ratio
Closed-end funds are permitted to utilize financial leverage. This ratio is calculated as total leverage divided by the sum of total leverage and net assets. The total leverage ratio includes both 1940-Act leverage (such as loans, lines of credit, revolving credit agreements, notes payable, and commercial paper) and non-1940 Act leverage (such as tender option bonds, reverse repurchase agreements, securities lending, and mortgage dollar rolls). For instance, a ratio of 25% would indicate that for every $1.00 of investable capital, $0.25 is derived from leverage. Note that some funds do not update their leverage amounts regularly; calculations are based on the last reported leverage amount.

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Total Liabilities
Total Current Liabilities plus Long-Term Debt and deferred income taxes.

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Total Return
Return on an investment, taking into account capital appreciation, dividends or interest, and individual tax considerations adjusted for present value and expressed on an annual basis. Cumulative total return reflects actual performance over a stated period of time. Average annual total return is a hypothetical rate of return that, if achieved annually, would have produced the same cumulative total return if performance had been constant over the entire period. Average annual total returns smooth out variation in performance; they are not the same as actual year-by-year results.

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Total Special Dividends (TTM)
See Dividend Analytics.

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Total Special Dividends Previous Year (TTM)
See Dividend Analytics.

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Tracking Error
Every Exchange Traded Product has an index or benchmark that it is intended to closely replicate before fees on a daily basis. Tracking error quantifies how well the fund is tracking its index/benchmark as a measure of the volatility of returns relative to the index/benchmark. The lower the tracking error the better job it is doing in replicating its index/benchmark.

1. Updated monthly.

2. Proprietary Marco Polo XTF Inc. calculation.

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Trading Volume
The total volume for the previous three months divided by the number of trading days in the previous three months.

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Trading Central
Trading Central's technical analysis methodology involves the study of historical price and volume to identify patterns and market trends within the global financial markets. This approach indicates directional moves and price targets. Mathematical indicators are then used to confirm these initial findings and fine tune the timing of positions. Trading Central's tool box includes traditional indicators and proprietary sophisticated algorithms that scan the markets and trigger alerts and signals. A final analysis of Japanese candlesticks helps to confirm any potential trend reversal or acceleration.

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Trailing P/E Ratio
The ratio of a stock's latest closing price divided by earnings per share based on the last reported 12 months of earnings. Companies with negative earnings receive an "NE." See also Earnings Per Share (EPS).

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Transaction Type
The table of insider trades displays the 20 most recent filings, including a code indicating the transaction type:

A Award of stock options
B Acquisition of shares accrued through a plan
C Exercise of warrants
D Stock split or dividend
F Disposition by exercise of options
G Gift
I Exchange
IS Intended Sale
J Other
K Private purchase sale
L Repurchase
M Acquisition by exercise of options
N Participant directed transaction pursuant to rule 16B-3
P Open market purchase
Q Transfer pursuant to domestic situation
R Acquisition pursuant to reinvestment of dividends or interest
S Open market sale
T Transaction under an employee benefit plan
U Tender shares in a merger or takeover
V Non-transaction, transfer or conversion
W By will
X Exercise of options
YP Reverse stock split
Z Deposit into or withdrawal from voting trust
3 Initial statement
0 Holdings

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Turnover Ratio (Annual)
This is an annual measure of the ETF's trading activity calculated by dividing total purchases or sales of portfolio securities (whichever is lower) by the net assets.

Investors frequently wonder why there is such a large dispersion of turnover ratio numbers in ETFs. Especially for funds that are generally passive in nature. When an ETF sports a triple digit turnover ratio it is usually the result of one or two reasons. The first is that it is a fixed-income ETF. Bonds, unlike stocks, have finite lives and are constantly maturing. Therefore, a fixed-income portfolio is constantly turning over as bonds move in and out of the portfolio.

The shorter the duration of the ETF (a short-term treasury bond ETF for example) the greater you should expect the turnover to be. The second reason usually has to do with some sort of imbedded strategy in the ETF.

Not all ETFs are simple passive vehicles. Some feature strategies that require quarterly, monthly or annual rebalancing or swap out whole positions. All of which lead to increased turnover. On the flip side, investors are also surprised by the number of zero or null turnover statistics that can be found. Most surprising are usually the inverse and leveraged inverse ETFs because they reset their exposure for the time period specified in their prospectus, which is often daily. Their turnover ratio is calculated using actual holdings data and not implied exposure data. Since most leveraged funds gain exposure through the use of swaps, the holdings are technically the cash collateral held against the swap. So most of the turnover is often cash to cash.

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Typical Price
The Typical Price indicator is simply an average of each day's price.

Interpretation: The Typical Price indicator provides a simple, single-line plot of the day's average price. Some investors use the Typical Price rather than the closing price when creating moving average penetration systems. The Typical Price is a building block of the Money Flow Index.

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U

Ultimate Oscillator
Williams' Ultimate Oscillator uses weighted sums of three oscillators, each using a different time period (7, 14, and 28), which represent short, medium, and long term market trends. The Ultimate Oscillator moves within the range of 0 to 100.

Interpretation: Williams recommends that you initiate a trade following a divergence and a breakout in the Ultimate Oscillator's trend. The following text summarizes these rules.
Buy When:

Close long positions when: Sell short when: Close short positions when:

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Undisclosed
In the Recent Analyst Recommendations detail table, firm and analyst names are undisclosed if the firm does not have a direct research agreement with Fidelity, and the analyst has a StarMine ranking lower than 50. Firms with direct research agreements with Fidelity include those listed on the Browse Research page.

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Unit
For a variable annuity investment option, the number of units owned.

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Unit Trust Fund
Unit trust fund is a term used to describe a particular type of investment structure which typically represents an ownership unit in a pooled investment or limited partnership or master limited partnership interest.

Partnerships are considered pass-through entities for tax purposes and therefore have special tax considerations. If you hold units of a partnership, you are generally treated as a partner for tax purposes and will be issued a Schedule K-1 (Form 1065) rather than a Form 1099 form for use in filling out your tax return. It lists the partner's share of income, deductions, credits, etc. Certain partnerships may have elected to be taxed as a corporation in the U.S. and will furnish a Form 1099 rather than a Schedule K-1. Please see the partnership website, SEC filings, or most recent shareholder report for further details about tax treatment.

A large number of unit trust funds operate in the commodities, natural resources, real estate and financial services industries. Other unit trust funds identified as Unit Trust Fund (REIT) typically represent an ownership unit in a real estate investment trust (REIT).

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Unit Trust Fund (REIT)
Unit trust fund is a term used to describe a particular type of investment structure which typically represents an ownership unit in a pooled investment or limited partnership or master limited partnership interest.

Partnerships are considered pass-through entities for tax purposes and therefore have special tax considerations. If you hold units of a partnership, you are generally treated as a partner for tax purposes and will be issued a Schedule K-1 (Form 1065) rather than a Form 1099 form for use in filling out your tax return. It lists the partner's share of income, deductions, credits, etc. Certain partnerships may have elected to be taxed as a corporation in the U.S. and will furnish a Form 1099 rather than a Schedule K-1. Please see the partnership website, SEC filings, or most recent shareholder report for further details about tax treatment.

A large number of unit trust funds operate in the commodities, natural resources, real estate and financial services industries. Other unit trust funds identified as Unit Trust Fund (REIT) typically represent an ownership unit in a real estate investment trust (REIT).

Stock markets are volatile and can fluctuate significantly in response to company, industry, political, regulatory, market, or economic developments. Investing in stock involves risks, including the loss of principal.

Illiquidity is an inherent risk associated with investing in real estate and REITs. There is no guarantee the issuer of a REIT will maintain the secondary market for its shares and redemptions may be at a price which is more or less than the original price paid. Changes in real estate values or economic downturns can have a significant negative effect on issuers in the real estate industry.

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Up/Down Ratio
The upside/downside ratio shows the relationship between the volume of advancing issues and the volume of declining issues. The upside volume is the total volume of all stocks that closed up in price, while downside volume is the total volume of all stocks that closed down in price. An upside/downside ratio in excess of nine signals an advancing market.

BigCharts calculates the upside/downside ratio for all markets and automatically selects the appropriate market indicator.

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Upgrade
What happens when an analyst or firm makes a positive change in their rating or recommendation on a particular stock. For example, an analyst may upgrade a rating from "hold" to "buy." Depending on the reputation of the analyst and what is revealed in the analyst's research (e.g., new information), an upgrade may help drive the price of the stock up.

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Upper Indicators
Upper indicators include the following technical indicators:

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V

Various Fundamentals-Weighted Index
The weight of each security in the index will be based on some combination of fundamental weighting parameters.Fundamentals encompass a wide variety of measures often related to a company's financial condition. Read the ETP's prospectus to determine which fundamentals are being used in the index and how they are weighted.

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Volatility
Chaikin's Volatility indicator compares the spread between a security's high and low prices. It quantifies volatility as a widening of the range between the high and the low price.

Interpretation:

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Volatility Fast
Volatility is the percentage price change or fluctuation over a given time period. To obtain the correct perspective, it is important to look at ratios or percentage changes rather than at point changes, which are influenced too much by the level of prices. Volatility can also be defined as the widening of the range between the high and low prices.

The Volatility Fast indicator has a default time period of 21.

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Volatility Measures
Volatility measures the variability of historical returns. Relative Volatility, Beta and R2 compare a portfolio's total return to those of a relevant market, represented by the benchmark index. Standard Deviation is calculated independent of an index.

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Volatility Slow
Volatility is the percentage price change or fluctuation over a given time period. To obtain the correct perspective, it is important to look at ratios or percentage changes rather than at point changes, which are influenced too much by the level of prices. Volatility can also be defined as the widening of the range between the high and low prices.

The Volatility Slow indicator has a default time period of 21.

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Vol. (Avg. 10-Day / Avg. 90-Day)
The daily average trading Volume measured over the last 10 days, divided by the same number measured over the last 90 days.

Vol. (Avg. 10-Day / Avg. 90-Day) can be used to find companies with recent volume spikes. If volume was the same in the last 10 days as it was in the last 90 days, the value of this ratio would be 1.0. The higher this ratio is above 1.0, the larger the relative volume spike. Typically, a large increase in volume means that some sort of news is coming out. Volume is a very important indicator in technical analysis.

Please note that there may be differences in the average values after market close between the security screeners and Research pages due to different update timeframes.

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Volume

The total number of shares traded on all exchanges where the security is traded during the latest trading day. Unusually high volume days typically correspond with the announcement of company news, either positive or negative. In the absence of news, high volume can indicate institutional (or professional) buying and selling.

For options, this is the number of shares traded during the day on the primary exchange. See Average Volume.

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Volume Accumulation
The Volume Accumulation indicator, developed by Mark Chaikens, is a modification of the traditional On Balance Volume (OBV) indicator. Instead of assigning the total volume to either buyers or sellers, Volume Accumulation assigns a proportional amount based on the relationship between the closing price and its intra-period mean price. In effect, the indicator measures shades of gray that traditional volume indicators such as OBV miss. However, if price closes at the period's high or low, the total is assigned accordingly. Movement above the zero line measures buying pressure, while movement below the zero line measures selling pressure.

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Volume By Price
An indicator showing the level of trading Volume relative to stock price of the primary security. Volume by Price is useful in determining where the majority of historical trading volume has occurred, and may help identify meaningful support and resistance lines. Support lines help determine at what price buyers are likely to come into the market and support a stock. Resistance lines help to determine at what price sellers may unload their stock and drive the stock price lower. These measures are subjective. The Volume By Price indicator is insufficient to mark either support or resistance lines.

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Volume Pace
The Volume Pace algorithm provides an indication of whether a stock appears to be on track to deliver above average, average, or below average volume by the end of the trading day.

To measure the pace of volume, the algorithm assumes that volume is greatest in the morning and afternoon but is light at mid-day. The end of day average volume for the last 10 trading days is applied to the algorithm in order to estimate the normal volume for any period of the day. If the cumulative volume for that day is above the estimate, plus an amount of variance, it is said to be above average volume. If it is below the average, less an amount of variance, it is said to be below average volume.

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Volume (90-Day Average)
The number of shares traded per day, averaged over the last 90 days. Please note that there may be differences in the average values after market close between the security screeners and Research pages due to different update timeframes.

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Volume+
An indicator that identifies, with color bars, when a stock's trading volume contributed to gains or losses in price. The Volume+ indicator also displays the stock's 50-day average volume as a reference point.

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Volume (10-Day Average)
The number of shares traded per day, averaged over the last 10 days. Please note that there may be differences in the average values after market close between the security screeners and Research pages due to different update timeframes.

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Volume (30 Day Average)
The number of shares traded per day, averaged over the last 30 days. Please note that there may be differences in the average values after market close between the security screeners and Research pages due to different update timeframes.

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Volume Today
The number of shares traded today. If you signed the Nasdaq user agreement, the volume is the latest real-time value. If you haven't signed the Nasdaq user agreement, the volume figure is delayed at least 15 minutes.

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Volume (Today/Avg. 10-Day)
Today's volume divided by the same number measured over the last 10 days. If you signed the Real Time Quotes user agreement, the volume is the latest real-time value. If you haven't signed the Real Time Quotes user agreement, the volume figure is delayed at least 15 minutes. Please note that there may be differences in the average values after market close between the security screeners and Research pages due to different update timeframes.

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Volume-Weighted Index
The weight of each security in the index will be determined by the average trading volume of the security over time. Read the ETP's prospectus to determine how the index calculates trading volume and over what time period.

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Volume-Weighted Moving Average (VMA)
The Volume-Weighted Moving Average is similar to an SMA, but each bar of data is weighted by the bar's volume.VMA places more significance on bars with the largest volume and less emphasis on bars with lowest volume for the Period specified. The VMA value attempts to represent the average purchase price of the past number of periods, as it assumes that all prices were traded at selected time (usually the closing value). Using VMA, you can judge if you are buying at a low value or selling at a high value compared to an average price paid by all market participants identified by VMA.

Because important breakouts are often accompanied by a large increase in volume, VMA will track aggressive moves more closely than other types of moving averages. During consolidation periods, where volume is light, VMA will act like a normal SMA.

Interpretation:

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W

Watch Closely
On a watch list, a flagged security you may be interested in buying or selling quickly. A flag icon appears next to each closely-watched security, and the row for that security is highlighted. By clicking the column header, you can sort your watch list so that all your closely-watched positions appear together at the top or bottom of the list.

You can set which securities to watch closely when creating or editing a watch list, by selecting Watch Closely from a security's Action drop-down list, or by checking the boxes next to one or more securities in the watch list and clicking Watch Closely at the bottom of the list.

The Watch Closely feature supports simplified self-monitoring, and has been created solely for your personal use. Fidelity does not monitor these securities any differently than other securities in your watch lists.

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Watch List
A list of securities you want to track. You can include stocks, mutual funds, money markets, options, and indexes in a watch list. You can create up to 15 watch lists of up to 50 securities each.

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Weighted Average Coupon
The weighted average of the coupon rate of the underlying bonds in the fund. The average coupon of a bond fund is expressed as a percentage. Weighted Average Coupon is updated daily and calculated by XTF to at least four decimals and then rounded to two decimals.

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Weighted Average Duration (Yrs)
The number of years required to recover the cost of all the bonds in the fund, considering the present value of all coupon and principal payments received in the future. Duration can be used to compare bonds with different issue and maturity dates, coupon rates, and yields to maturity. If interest rates fall, the interest payments and principal that investors receive will have to be reinvested at lower rates. As a result, bond investors try to account for reinvestment risk by calculating a bond�s duration. The duration of a bond is expressed as a number of years from its purchase date. Updated daily and calculated by XTF using durations of each bond held by the fund. The value is calculated to at least four decimals and then rounded to two decimals.

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Weighted Average Maturity (Yrs)
The weighted average of the remaining term to maturity of the underlying bonds in the fund. The maturity of a bond is expressed as the number of years remaining. Updated daily and calculated by XTF using maturities of each bond in the fund. The value is calculated to at least four decimals and then rounded to two decimals. Calculations are sourced from State Street Bank for Fidelity Active Fixed Income ETFs.

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Weighted Moving Average (WMA)
WMA returns a linearly-Weighted Moving Average of the Price Series over the specified Period. Whereas a Simple Moving Average (SMA) calculates a straight average of the data, WMA applies more weight to the data that is more current. The most weight is placed on the most recent data point. Because of the way it's calculated, WMA will follow prices more closely than a corresponding SMA.

Interpretation:

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Williams % R
Williams %R is a momentum indicator developed by Larry Williams. Like Stochastic Oscillators (StochK,StochD), %R is used to gauge overbought and oversold levels, and ranges between 0 and 100. However, unlike most other momentum oscillators, the low end of the scale represents an overbought area, and the high end an oversold condition. For this reason Williams %R is often multiplied by -1 and plotted on a negative scale. Williams %R measures the latest closing price relative to high low range within the past data, thus it reflects buyers and sellers commitment to close the price within that range. At the peak of the buyer's power the oscillator reaches zero, and at the peak of the seller's power, it reaches 100. The overbought region is below 10 percent and the oversold region is over 90 percent.

Interpretation: A reading of above 80 or 90 indicates oversold levels, and below 20 or 10 indicates overbought. Williams %R has a tendency to peak ahead of price, so it can be a good tool in identifying trend reversals. During strong trends, the Williams %R can remain in the oversold or overbought regions for extended periods of time.

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Wilder Moving Average (WilderMA)
Wilder Moving Average, also known as Wilder�s Smoothing, was created by J. Welles Wilder, Jr. as a component for several of his other indicators including the RSI. The Wilder Moving Average is actually the same as an Exponential Moving Average but reacts more slowly for any given period. For example, 10 period WilderMA is equivalent to a 19 period EMA.

Interpretation: The WilderMA is used to smooth data. The longer the period the smoother the result and the more lag between the indicator and the series source. The WilderMA can be interpreted in the same way as other moving averages.

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Wilshire 5000
The nation's broadest-based index tracking the performance of all U.S. equity securities. The index is market cap weighted, meaning that the firms with the highest market value account for a larger portion of the index.

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XTF Inc.
XTF Inc. is an independent research firm that provides ratings and data for Exchange Traded Products (ETP). To learn more about their offering and methodology see the ETP Research page

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Yield
The annual rate of return on an investment expressed as a percentage. Both stock and bond investments are measured by their annual yield. Annualized Yield is calculated by dividing the Annualized Dividend by the closing price and multiplying by 100. In charts, the yield indicator plots a stock or mutual fund's rolling 52-week dividend yield. The dividend yield is calculated for each period by dividing the 52-week rolling dividend by its closing price and multiplying by 100.

Using Yield can be an effective way to compare the profitability of more than one investment which pay dividends at different times of the year.

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YTD Return
The current year-to-date load-adjusted return for a mutual fund, updated monthly.

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Zacks Research
Zacks Investment Research was founded in 1978 to provide institutional investors with quantitative models designed to predict stock prices for US companies. Since then, the product line has expanded to provide a wide range of investment-related information services and software tools to over 800 investment management firms, brokerage firms, and corporations, and to over 300,000 individual investors and individual registered representatives. Zacks Investment Research is a Chicago-based research and money management firm that provides individual investors with investment advice in three forms: a) Zacks Independent Research Reports, b) an internet-based investment newsletter, the Zacks Advisor, and c) money management services through Zacks Investment Management, a wholly owned RIA subsidiary.

Zacks Independent Research can be characterized as model directed fundamental research.

The research process begins with an economic outlook. To develop the Zacks Economic Outlook, Zacks works with Laurence Meyer, former Fed Governor and Chairman of the economic consulting firm Macroeconomic Advisors, and with Chris Varvares, President of Macroeconomic Advisors. Based on the economic scenario, the Zacks Investment Committee makes its forecasts for major trends in the US Equity markets, and provides macro guidance to the Zacks analysts.

The Zacks analysts, organized by sector, are responsible for issuing Buy/Hold/Sell recommendations and target prices on individual stocks. Zacks analysts use the Zacks Rank in conjunction with fundamental analysis in issuing an individual recommendation.

The Zacks Rank, which has been provided to institutional investors since 1982, classifies over 4,000 companies into five groups (1,2,3,4, or 5) based on statistical patterns in public market fundamental data including brokerage analyst estimates, EPS and sales surprises, and insider trading.

Within this universe, Zacks analysts actively follow and issue Buy, Hold, or Sell recommendations on over 1,100 companies. In addition to using the Zacks Rank, Zacks analysts are also provided Industry guidance by Zacks' Investment committee, which rates industries as Positive, Negative, or Neutral.

Based on this input, the final decision to recommend a stock as Buy, Sell, or Hold is made by the analysts, who are able to override the Zacks Rank with the approval of Zacks' Investment Committee.

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