How it works

Quantitative Value
Methodology

A systematic, rules-based approach to finding the world's most undervalued stocks — free of emotion, analyst bias, and narrative.

Philosophy

Melquiades implements the methodology from Quantitative Value (Gray & Carlisle, 2012) — a systematic framework that combines deep-value screening with financial quality filters to find stocks trading at extreme discounts to intrinsic value while avoiding value traps and distress situations.

The core insight: cheap stocks outperform over time, but naive cheapness metrics (like low P/E) select for deteriorating businesses. Combining valuation with financial quality dramatically improves the odds. All factors are computed from public financial statements via Yahoo Finance — no analyst estimates, no forecasts, no narrative.

Gray, W. R. & Carlisle, T. E. (2012). Quantitative Value. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN: 978-1118328071.

The Four Factors

Each stock is scored on four independent dimensions and ranked globally.

EBIT / TEV

EBIT ÷ (Market Cap + Net Debt)

Measures operating earnings relative to the total cost of acquiring the business. Preferred over P/E because it is capital-structure-neutral and harder to manipulate.

Higher = cheaper. Stocks are ranked in descending order; top quartile earns the highest percentile score.

ROIC

NOPAT ÷ Invested Capital

Return on Invested Capital measures how efficiently a company generates profit from its capital base. High-ROIC businesses compound wealth over time and signal durable competitive advantage.

> 15% = strong. Higher = better quality business.

Gross Profitability (GP/A)

Gross Profit ÷ Total Assets

Robert Novy-Marx (2013) showed gross profitability predicts future returns as strongly as book value. Asset-light, high-margin businesses earn superior long-term returns.

> 30% = highly profitable. Higher = better.

Piotroski F-Score

9 binary signals across profitability, leverage & efficiency

Filters out "cheap traps" — companies that look cheap on valuation but are actively deteriorating. A stock with EBIT/TEV in the top decile but F-Score of 2 is a value trap.

≥ 6 = financially healthy. ≤ 3 = deteriorating.

QV Score Formula

Each factor is independently ranked (0–100 percentile), then equally weighted.

EBIT/TEV
Valuation
25%
ROIC
Quality
25%
GP/A
Gross Profitability
25%
F-Score
Financial Strength
25%
QV Score
0 – 100
→ Global Rank

The final integer rank (1 = best) is assigned after sorting by QV Score across the entire global universe. Rank 1 is the stock with the most favourable combination of cheapness, quality, and financial strength.

Supplementary screening metrics — Altman Z-Score (solvency) and Accruals Ratio (earnings quality) are displayed on stock pages for reference but are not inputs to the composite QV Score.

Data & Coverage

1343+ tickers across 12 regions, sourced from Yahoo Finance (yfinance). No API keys required.

RegionExchangesTickers
USNYSE, NASDAQ, AMEX586
EUEuronext Paris/Amsterdam/Brussels, Frankfurt182
JPTokyo Stock Exchange (TSE)103
UKLondon Stock Exchange (LSE)97
CAToronto Stock Exchange (TSX)60
AUAustralian Securities Exchange (ASX)60
INNSE / BSE India60
HKHong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEX)50
ITBorsa Italiana45
CHSIX Swiss Exchange40
KRKOSPI / KOSDAQ30
BRB3 (Bovespa)30

What We Don't Do

No momentum factors
Price momentum can be additive but complicates rebalancing logic. Not implemented.
No analyst estimates
Consensus EPS forecasts introduce sell-side bias. All inputs come from historical financial statements.
No sentiment or news
NLP scoring and news signals are noisy and hard to backtest reliably. Excluded.
No technical analysis
Patterns, RSI, MACD — not in scope. This is a fundamentals-only screener.
Not a recommendation engine
QV rank is a starting point for research, not financial advice.

Further Reading

Quantitative Value
Wesley R. Gray & Tobias E. Carlisle · 2012
The primary source for this methodology. ISBN: 978-1118328071
Value Investing: The Use of Historical Financial Statement Information to Separate Winners from Losers
Joseph D. Piotroski · 2000
Journal of Accounting Research. Introduces the F-Score.
Financial Ratios, Discriminant Analysis and the Prediction of Corporate Bankruptcy
Edward I. Altman · 1968
Journal of Finance. The original Z-Score paper.
Do Stock Prices Fully Reflect Information in Accruals and Cash Flows About Future Earnings?
Richard G. Sloan · 1996
The Accounting Review. Foundation of the accruals anomaly.

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