When you create a Watchlist, look to the right under the option drop down to find Add Metric to Data View. You can have up to 10 metrics on youor Watchlist. If the option to add a metric is grayed out, you need to remove one of the current metrics listed before adding in a new one. If you want to view more data points for a Watchlist, use our Table Builder, which allows you to add more than ten metrics.

To remove an alert under a Watchlist, go to the left and click the option for Create/Edit Watchlists Alerts. When the window opens, you can “X” out of the alerts you created at the top, or uncheck the box of the pre-made alerts.

Under the News and Events dropdown on the top right of the page, select News to see all the news that was released for a specific Watchlist or all of your watchlists by selecting the Watchlists in the Display News From in the middle of the page.

First, download the Excel templates under Create Watchlist from File at the top of the page. When it opens, click Watchlist Import Template: XLSX CSV TXT to download and input information on the Excel document. When you have saved the Excel document go back into Zacks Advisor Tools and click Create Watchlist from File, then Choose File to upload the Excel document. Then click Create A Watchlist and it will pop up under your Watchlist page.

To add another holding to a Watchlist, click on the Option drop down on the left of the Watchlists page, then select Add Ticker and type in the Ticker you wish to add.

To hide a Watchlist, go under the option dropdown on the left and select Hide. To unhide, go to the top of the page and select Manage Watchlist and select the Watchlist you wish to unhide by clicking on the eye icon.

Prices update every 40-60 seconds. We get that directly from BAT CBOE US Equity Exchange for Stocks. Prices can be different between sources, but since the market is so liquid there is minimal difference. Mutual Funds are updated at the end of the day NAV perspective. Indexes (S&P, NASDAQ, Dow Jones) are 20 minute delays. ETFs have a 40-50 second delay.

The amount of time it takes for an IPO or any company to be assigned a Zacks Rank/Recommendation or Style Score is when there are sell-side analysts that are tracked by Zacks to begin following the company/IPO. This is because the metrics used to gauge the Strong Buy/Buy/Hold/Sell/Strong Sell merits for the Zacks Rank/Recommendation are derived from sell-side analysts. These analysts often have the most insight into the number one driver of share price, EPS. So once the IPO or any company begins to be followed by a sell-side analyst being tracked by Zacks, it will then have a Zacks Rank/Recommendation.

• Analysts update their parts once in a quarter.
• Data and charts are updated automatically every week.
• We get NAV in the data feed as of month-end so that data point is as of month-end.
• Data and charts for SCHD & VTV should have been updated on 11/4 and before that too.

Our research team is comprised of 91 people, including the Director of Research and Chief Equity Strategist John Blank. The overall turnover of the analyst team is approximately 15% annually, and more than half of the 91-person team has been with us 5 years or longer. The average time with the firm is six years. All of the 91-person research team have Masters degrees.

We receive out estimates from roughly 200 sell-side analysts.

The Zacks Rank is our short-term rating system that is most effective over the one- to three-month holding horizon. The underlying driver for the quantitatively-determined Zacks Rank is the same as the Zacks Recommendation, and reflects trends in earnings estimate revisions.

The Zacks Rank is our short-term rating system that is most effective over the one- to three-month holding horizon. The underlying driver for the quantitatively-determined Zacks Rank is the same as the Zacks Recommendation, and reflects trends in earnings estimate revisions.

A quant score looks at specific aspects of the equity. For example, the Growth Style Score analyzes the growth prospects for a company by evaluating its financial statements. Studies show that stocks exhibiting the best growth characteristics can outperform the market, and combined with the top Zacks Rank stocks, the returns are even better. Quant scores are often used in conjunction with the Zacks Rank. If you have a list of 100 Zacks Rank #1 stocks, a quant score could help you further narrow down your list.

Type in any stock ticker and it will be available in Overview tab and also in the Key Stats tab.

You can also access Zacks Sector and Industry Rank in Screening and Table Builder by clicking Options > Add Metric, then clicking Ratings under the Category list that pops up.

The Zacks Rank is our short-term rating system that is most effective over the one- to three-month holding horizon. The underlying driver for the quantitatively-determined Zacks Rank is the same as the Zacks Recommendation, and reflects trends in earnings estimate revisions. This system is for short-term recommendations. So you would not necessarily sell an equity if it had a low Zacks Rank if it was a long-term hold in your portfolios.

Overall, our highest-rated funds outperform their category peers on a consistent basis and their outperformance relative to a fund’s category average has been shown to outpace the lowest-rated funds by up to 120 basis points or more on an annual basis.

In addition, the cumulative excess performance stays the course for holding periods of up to five years.

Morningstar’s Star ratings are based on historical (risk-adjusted) performance and have proven to be unreliable indicators of future performance. The Stars are, incidentally, correlated to future fund flows that are coming into or leaving the fund, but not to future performance.

Morningstar released a paper in 2022 describing the results of their forward-looking mutual fund ratings, and those results are mixed.

The Zacks Mutual Fund Rank is derived using a multi-factor model that identifies the most effective combination of public information to explain ex-post mutual fund behavior. The result is a reliable method to predict future fund performance.

We use four unique multi-factor models to predict performance for the following mutual fund types:

• US Equity
• Foreign Equity
• Fixed Income
• Non-Core/Other

The four factor models use different combinations of historical data (“Sub-Factors”) that were determined to best predict fund performance.

US Equity</s

• Short-Term Alpha: Performance during short time periods of less than two years
• Long-Term Stock Selection: Consistency of excess returns during long time periods
• Size: Net assets for the fund as sum of AUM across all share classes
• Expense Ratio: Asset-weighted average expense ratio of all share classes
• Return Gap: Trading cost effectiveness
• Responsiveness to Public Information: Fund performance in response to public versus private information
• Zacks Indicator: Institutional stock rankings aggregated to the fund strategy level

Foreign Equity

• Short-Term Alpha: Performance during short time periods less than two years
• Long-Term Stock Selection: Consistency of excess returns during long time periods
• Size: Net assets for the fund as sum of AUM across all share classes
• Expense Ratio: Asset-weighted average expense ratio of all share classes
• Risk: Fund performance during down markets
• Consistency of Returns: Consistency of returns during up and down markets
• Age: Length of time the fund has been trading

Fixed Income

• Long-Term Stock Selection: Consistency of excess returns during long time periods
• Size: Net assets for the fund as sum of AUM across all share classes
• Expense Ratio: Asset-weighted average expense ratio of all share classes
• Risk: Fund performance during down markets
• Consistency of Returns: Consistency of returns during up and down markets

Non-Core/Other

• Short-Term Alpha: Performance during short time periods less than two years
• Long-Term Stock Selection: Consistency of excess returns during long time periods
• Size: Net assets for the fund as sum of AUM across all share classes
• Expense Ratio: Asset-weighted average expense ratio of all share classes
• Risk: Fund performance during down markets
• Age: Length of time the fund has been trading

The Sub-Factors are a “bridge” from the quant model to the fundamentals of the fund’s drivers of performance. It can be illuminating to question the Zacks Mutual Fund Rank and reconcile it with the Sub-Factor scores. For example, does it make sense that the Short-Term Alpha or Expense Ratio scores are a drag on the Rank?

As a result, Sub-Factor score analysis increases one’s confidence in using the overall rating.

Also, when reviewing a list of #1 and #2 rated funds to invest in, taking into account the Sub-Factor scores can aid in the final fund selection.

We do not rate the following funds:

• Index Funds
• Target Date Funds
• Short Equity Funds
• Leveraged Funds

• Zacks collects holdings from SEC filing that companies are required to report on a quarterly basis but with 60 day lag
• Example: MF companies that have a quarter end of 12/31/2022 are not required to file until 2/28/2023 to file those holdings
• Following the filing of those holdings, they will then be updated in Zacks’ system during our monthly update

You can screen for all ETFs within the Investment Process called Ethical. You can screen for all Mutual Funds within the Value Line Peer for Socially Aware.

Also, we are in the process of integrating ESG scores into Advisor Tools. Currently, we have ESG scores for about 400 of the S&P 500 companies. If you are interested, contact us and we will provide a data file for it.

We can tell you more about how we created them, and how advisors are using them for their clients.

The stock-selection process for the Focus List portfolio includes a variety of factors, including the Zacks Rank.

The portfolio manager has a fair amount of discretion in the types of stocks that enter the portfolio, but he would typically stay away from initiating positions in sell-rated stocks. Stocks almost always need to be at least ranked 1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) to enter the Focus List portfolio.

Once in the portfolio, a rank downgrade to 4 (Sell) or 5 (Strong Sell) does not imply an automatic exit. The primary reason for this is the very long-term holding horizon of the Focus List portfolio that at times runs counter to the Zacks Rank’s near-term earnings outlook drivers.

A Zacks Rank downgrade to 4 or 5 implies a weakening near-term earnings outlook as reflected in negative earnings estimate revisions. We will take this ‘downgrade’ into account as we evaluate the stock’s overall standing in the portfolio. But as long as this unfavorable earnings reset is not causing a reassessment and downgrade of our favorable long-term investment thesis and view, then the Zacks Rank downgrade will have no bearing on its position in the portfolio.

As an advisor, you know that convincing a client or prospect to engage in comprehensive planning can be difficult. They may feel that comprehensive planning requires too much time, too much digging through files, too many meetings, and might result in a sales pitch. Zacks Planners is designed to gently guide your clients and prospects into that planning with a conversation that helps you learn more about your prospects, while they better understand about how to address their asset allocation decisions and saving rates by seeing clear illustrations of their own situations.

We designed the Zacks Planners so you can enter as little information as possible about your client, but still produce helpful guidance. To use this system, you only need a few key data points: client or prospect’s age, income, growth and savings expectations, total assets, and debt/equity mix.

Zacks Planners produces a concise report determining if they are set for retirement or not. Then you may continue using the tools to show exactly how you and your firm can help them improve their future. In the time required for one client meeting, you are able to have a meaningful conversation about their particular scenario and how you as a fiduciary can help them.

Inflation is a constant factor in all financial planning. Every financial plan must take in account the time value of money. All client data input to Zacks Planners is in current dollars, which eases the process for your client or prospect as you are working with them to build their plan. Figures they provide—including monthly income needs during retirement, future expenses such as the cost of college, and salary for the year before retirement—are in current dollars. Zacks Planners automatically increases all relevant values by 2.5% per year to adjust for inflationor you may select a preferred inflation rate.

Zacks Planners is designed to provide the basis for retirement planning conversations between you and your prospects and clients, and to do so quickly and easily. In the time needed for a typical meeting, you can collect and input the information required to produce the Zacks Planners retirement analysis reporting. This makes it a great tool for initial meetings with prospects.

For established clients you may be able to build their reporting with data from your files. Without extensive fact-finding, you can enter into profiling and planning conversations. You may even find it useful in Client Review meetings. You can easily illustrate potential portfolio developments due to market swings. These illustrations can do a great deal to make investors feel more comfortable with the strategies you are running for them.

For each user case, Zacks Planners creates 1,000 future Monte Carlo statistical scenarios showing how the values of multiple user accounts may change over timeline of your plan—leading up to your client’s retirement, and in the years after retirement. The Custom Reports feature enables you to look at statistical summaries of these accounts over time, at a fixed date, for one account and for multiple accounts, to give you and your client a clear picture of how their financial future may evolve.

After your first run of the Zacks Planners, you will see the output on your screen. Toward the bottom of the report page, you will find sliders that enable you to easily change equity allocations and savings rates for the user accounts and see how the user’s financial future will change when you adjust them.

Because these “what if” scenarios can be immediately viewed, they facilitate productive conversations allowing you to gather profile information about your clients and spotlight your value as an Advisor. You can also return to the main data input screens to change the other client inputs, such as retirement ages, social security start ages, or post-retirement income flows.

To develop a plan with a client you only need to enter a few items: client age, current income and growth expectations, income savings expectations, total assets, and debt/equity mix. This enables the system to provide a concise report indicating if your client is set for retirement. You can then expand your information to include details of assets, planned future major expenses, such as educational costs, and any major future cash payments. This added information can help you create a much more accurate financial plan.

Zacks Planners forecasts the clients income at retirement in future dollars assuming an inflation rate of 2.5% per year or you may select preferred inflation factor for your cases. The tool also provides estimates of your clients’ Social Security retirement income using a calculator developed by CalcXML. If your client knows the amount they will receive, you may enter that amount, overriding calculated estimates. You may also enter any pension or other income flows your client will have during retirement.

Zacks Planners then uses Monte Carlo techniques to forecast 1,000 possible future values of the user’s accounts as of retirement, taking into account any major inflows and outflows from the accounts on the path to retirement. Zacks Planners then asks the client the amount of required monthly after-tax income at retirement, in current dollars, and then converts this into future dollars as of the retirement date. Taking into account taxes, the Zacks Planners determines the monthly dollar amount the user will need to withdraw from his accounts, as of retirement, to fund the desired retirement lifestyle. This is called the Retirement Shortfall.

You and your client may select one of two methods by which Zacks Planners will illustrate how the client’s retirement shortfall can be “solved” in retirement. First, you may choose an illustration where the shortfall is covered by regular withdrawals from the client’s assets. This provides a visual presentation of whether and when the client’s accounts will run out money in the retirement years.

In the second method you may show the shortfall as covered by the purchase of an annuity. This provides a very quick yes/no answer to the question whether the client will have enough assets to cover their needs as of their retirement date. Retirement needs are illustrated by determining if your clients have enough assets to purchase an annuity to provide for retirement spending needs.

Monte Carlo methodology is a statistical technique where a result is computed by running a model a large number of times to determine a “most likely” result based on the numerous renditions with a large set of different possible variables. Zacks Planners utilizes Monte Carlo to derive the most likely output for a modeled portfolio using 50 years of historical returns for equity and debt portfolios.

This history encompasses bull and bear markets, increasing and decreasing interest rate environments, and periods of both economic expansion and contraction. While nobody can accurately predict the precise future performance of our markets, by compiling thousands of different renditions based on market history, we can be comfortable with our forecasts of expected portfolio results.