Do you have multiple lists in Excel or Google Sheets that you want to combine together? With new functions such as VSTACK and HSTACK, you can do just that. In this post, I’ll show you how you can also filter out duplicates and apply sorting so that your data is organized after consolidating all of your lists.
Combining multiple stock lists into a large one
In this example, I’ll use various stock lists that I want to combine into one large list. On Yahoo Finance, you can find an assortment of different lists to help filter stocks. Below, I’ve pulled the lists of stocks that recently hit new 52-week highs, smart money stocks, medical device and research stocks, and e-commerce stocks:
The advantage of keeping the lists separate is that you can more easily update them. And by using VSTACK, you can combine these lists into a larger one so there’s no worry about having to consolidate them later on.
Based on the lists above, this is the formula that I use to combine them all together, using VSTACK:
=VSTACK(A2:A31,B2:B10,C2:C31,D2:D20)
Since I don’t want to include the headers, I start from row 2. You’ll notice that I’ve hardcoded the ranges here. One way to make this more dynamic would be to use a COUNTIF or COUNTA function for the individual lists, and then use the INDIRECT function to limit the scope of the list. Another option involves converting the lists into tables. That way, you only have to list the table column and you don’t have to worry about the ranges. The one caveat here is that if you have lists that have different lengths, you’ll want to make each list its own table. Otherwise, Excel will automatically fill in the gaps with blank values:
While the data looks correct, if I were to use the VSTACK formula for these different table columns, I would get a consolidated list that involves many zero values. To keep it cleaner, it’s easier to just separate them into their own tables, and then reference them afterwards.
To reference these columns, my formula becomes much simpler:
=VSTACK(Table1[Recent 52-Week High],Table2[Smart Money Stocks],Table3[Medical Device and Research Stocks],Table4[E-commerce])
The advantage of doing it this way is that now I don’t have to worry about hardcoding the ranges, and thus, it’s easier to update.
Whichever method you prefer, the end result should look like a consolidated list:
Removing duplicates and sorting the list
In some of these lists, there is some overlap. AMZN and META are two stocks that show up twice. This means that my consolidated list will include those values multiple times. To get around this, I can embed the formula within the UNIQUE function:
=UNIQUE(VSTACK(A2:A31,B2:B10,C2:C31,D2:D20))
If you also want to sort your list, then you can add the SORT function as well:
If you have the same lists but instead have them going horizontally, then you can use the HSTACK function. It works the same way as the VSTACK but as the H suggests, it will require horizontal arrays. Here are the same list of stocks as in the first example, this time transposed so that they go horizontally:
In this case, the formula for HSTACK would be as follows:
=HSTACK(B1:AE1,B2:J2,B3:AE3,B4:T4)
You can apply the same steps as for the VSTACK to eliminate duplicates and to sort the results.
These formulas work the same in Google Sheets as in Excel
Whether you’re working in Google Sheets or Excel, these formulas will be the same. The VSTACK, HSTACK, SORT, and UNIQUE functions are all available on the latest version of Excel and on Google Sheets. There is no need to change any of the formulas besides just adjusting for any difference in ranges. The formulas themselves work in the same ways, making it easy to transfer data between Google Sheets and Excel and to replicate these formulas wherever makes sense for you.
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The Relative Strength Index (RSI) is a popular trading indcator that investors use for trading purposes. In this article, I’ll go over details as to what RSI is, why it’s useful, and how to calculate it in Excel.
RSI is a bounded oscillator that fluctuates between 0 and 100, providing insights to investors as to whether a stock is overbought or oversold. It compares the magnitude of recent price gains relative to recent price losses over a specified period of time, typically 14 days, and generates a value that indicates the potential for a price reversal or continuation.
The higher the losses are relative to the gains, the lower the RSI value becomes. And the opposite is also true, with the RSI value rising when a stock has been accumulating more gains than losses. Generally, an RSI value above 70 indicates an overbought condition, suggesting a potential price correction or reversal to the downside. Conversely, an RSI value below 30 indicates an oversold condition, implying a potential price bounce or reversal to the upside. Traders often use these overbought and oversold levels to identify possible entry or exit points in the market.
Why RSI Is a Useful Indicator for Traders
It’s important to note that the RSI is just one tool among many in technical analysis, and it should be used in conjunction with other indicators and analysis methods to make well-informed trading decisions. However, here are 4 reasons traders might find it useful:
1. Finding overbought and oversold levels
RSI can help investors identify buying and selling opportunities. When a stock is deeply oversold and the business is still in good shape but perhaps is down due to a bad quarter, it could be a sign to buy the beaten-down stock. In essence, it can help find market overreactions. At the same time, it can spot a stock that perhaps has become too hot when its RSI level is over 70 or 80, and that perhaps it has risen too much and too quickly.
It’s useful to also look at a stock’s historical RSI levels to gauge what kind of an opportunity it is. If it frequently dips in and out of oversold/overbought territory, it could simply be that the stock is volatile. But if it is rare for the stock to become oversold/overbought, then it could make for a good opportunity to buy or sell the stock depending on what the indicator says.
2. Measuring momentum and confirming a trend
The RSI provides insights into the strength and momentum of a price trend. When the RSI is rising and stays above 50, it indicates that buying pressure is dominant and the price trend may continue. Conversely, when the RSI is falling and stays below 50, it suggests that selling pressure is dominant and the price trend may continue downward. This information can help investors confirm the strength of a trend and make informed decisions about entering or exiting positions.
3. Identifying divergence patterns
Another valuable aspect of the RSI is its ability to identify divergence patterns. Divergence occurs when the direction of the RSI differs from the direction of the price. Bullish divergence happens when the price makes lower lows while the RSI makes higher lows, indicating a potential trend reversal to the upside. On the other hand, bearish divergence occurs when the price makes higher highs while the RSI makes lower highs, suggesting a potential trend reversal to the downside. Investors can use these divergence patterns as early warning signals of potential trend shifts and adjust their investment strategies accordingly.
4. Confirmation with other indicators
The RSI can be used in conjunction with other technical indicators to confirm signals and strengthen investment decisions. For example, if a stock shows overbought conditions based on the RSI, investors may look for additional indicators such as bearish candlestick patterns or negative volume divergences to support their decision to sell or take profits.
Other technical indicators investors can use alongside RSI
Investors often use many different indicators to make investment decisions. Here are a few commonly used indicators that can be used in conjunction with the RSI:
1. Moving Averages
Moving averages are trend-following indicators that smooth out price fluctuations over a specific period. The most commonly used moving averages are the simple moving average (SMA) and the exponential moving average (EMA). Investors often use moving averages in combination with the RSI to identify trend direction and potential support or resistance levels.
2. MACD (Moving Average Convergence Divergence)
The MACD is another trend-following momentum indicator that consists of two lines, the MACD line and the signal line. It helps identify potential buy and sell signals by measuring the relationship between two moving averages. Traders often look for convergence or divergence between the MACD and the RSI to confirm potential trend reversals or continuations.
3. Bollinger Bands
Bollinger Bands consist of a centerline (typically a moving average) and two bands that are plotted above and below it. These bands represent volatility levels. When the price reaches the upper band, it suggests that the asset is overbought, while reaching the lower band suggests oversold conditions. Combining Bollinger Bands with the RSI can provide additional insights into potential price reversals or breakouts.
4. Stochastic Oscillator
The Stochastic Oscillator is a momentum indicator that compares the closing price of an asset to its price range over a specific period. It consists of two lines, %K and %D, which oscillate between 0 and 100. Traders often look for oversold or overbought conditions on the Stochastic Oscillator in conjunction with the RSI to confirm potential trading signals.
5. Volume indicators
Volume indicators, such as On-Balance Volume (OBV) or Volume Weighted Average Price (VWAP), provide insights into the buying and selling pressure behind price movements. By analyzing volume alongside the RSI, investors can assess the strength and validity of potential price trends or reversals.
6. Fibonacci retracements
Fibonacci retracements are based on the mathematical relationships found in the Fibonacci sequence. They are used to identify potential support and resistance levels. Combining Fibonacci retracements with the RSI can help investors identify areas where a price correction or reversal may occur.
These are just a few examples of indicators that investors can use alongside the RSI. The choice of indicators depends on the investor’s trading strategy, timeframes, and personal preferences. It’s important to test and evaluate different combinations of indicators to find a system that works well for individual investment goals and risk tolerance.
Why you shouldn’t buy a stock just because the RSI is low
Buying a stock solely based on a low RSI level is not a recommended approach for several reasons:
1. It lacks context
The RSI is just one indicator and provides a snapshot of the stock’s recent price performance relative to its own historical price movements. It doesn’t take into account other fundamental factors or external market conditions that may impact the stock’s future prospects. For example, a stock may have a very low RSI because investors are selling it off due to liquidity issues or problems that may significantly impact the investing thesis behind a stock. Therefore, solely relying on the RSI without considering other relevant information may lead to an incomplete assessment of the stock’s potential.
2. False signals
The RSI is a bounded oscillator that fluctuates between 0 and 100. While an RSI below 30 may indicate an oversold condition, it doesn’t guarantee an immediate rebound or a profitable buying opportunity. Stocks can remain oversold for extended periods, and the RSI alone may not accurately predict the timing or magnitude of a price reversal. It’s essential to consider other technical and fundamental indicators to validate the potential opportunity.
3. Downtrends and value traps
A low RSI reading can sometimes be an indication of a stock in a prolonged downtrend. Just because a stock is oversold does not mean it will necessarily recover or provide substantial returns. There may be fundamental reasons behind the stock’s decline, such as poor financial performance, unfavorable industry conditions, or negative news. Investing solely based on a low RSI without understanding the underlying reasons for the low reading can lead to falling into a “value trap” not unlike how investors may buy a stock simply because its price-to-earnings multiple is low.
4. Confirmation bias
Relying solely on the RSI to make investment decisions may lead to confirmation bias, where investors seek information that supports their preconceived notions. It’s crucial to consider a broader range of indicators, conduct thorough research, and evaluate multiple factors to make well-informed investment decisions.
5. False oversold signals in strong downtrends
In strong downtrends, a stock can remain oversold for an extended period as selling pressure continues. Attempting to catch a falling knife solely based on a low RSI reading can result in further losses if the stock continues its downward trajectory. It’s important to assess the overall trend, market conditions, and other technical and fundamental factors to increase the probability of making successful investment decisions.
While the RSI can be a useful tool to identify potential opportunities, it should be considered as part of a comprehensive analysis that incorporates other indicators, fundamental analysis, and market conditions. By taking a holistic approach to investment decision-making, investors can make more well-rounded and informed choices.
How do you calculate RSI?
Here are the steps to take when determining how to calculate RSI:
1. Determine the timeframe
Traders usually use a 14-day timeframe for calculating the RSI, but it can be adjusted to suit different trading strategies and timeframes.
2. Calculate the average gain and average loss
The RSI compares the average gains and average losses over the chosen timeframe. To calculate the average gain, sum up all the positive price changes (gains) over the period and divide them by the number of periods. Similarly, calculate the average loss by summing up all the negative price changes (losses) and divide that by the number of periods.
3. Calculate the relative strength (RS)
The relative strength is the ratio of the average gain to the average loss. RS = Average Gain / Average Loss.
4. Calculate the RSI
The RSI is derived from the relative strength and is calculated using the formula: RSI = 100 – (100 / (1 + RS)).
Calculating RSI in Excel
Using the STOCKHISTORY function in Excel, you can easily download a stock’s historical prices. In this example, I’ve downloaded Amazon’s stock price between the period Jan 1, 2021 and Dec 25, 2022.
The next step is to calculate the gains and losses for each day. This just involves looking at the current closing price and the previous. If the price went down, the difference goes into the loss column. If it’s a gain, it goes into the gain column. Here’s an example of the formula for the gain column:
=IF(B7>B6,B7-B6,0)
Here’s a look at what the sheet looks like with the formulas filled in for the gain and loss columns:
Next up, I need to calculate the average gains and average losses. I’ll do this for the past 14 trading days. For the first value, I just need to calculate a simple average:
=AVERAGE(C7:C20)
For subsequent cells, however, I’ll use an exponential average. That way, I’ll apply more weighting to the the most recent calculation:
=((E20*13)+C21)/14
Next, I will calculate the RS Value. To do this, I take the average gain and divide it by the average loss:
=E20/F20
Lastly, that leaves the RSI calculation, which contains the following formula:
=100-(100/(1+G20))
With all the fields filled in, this is what the spreadsheet looks like:
If you want to follow along with the file that I’ve created, you can download it from here. You can also watch the corresponding YouTube video that goes along with this tutorial:
If you liked this post on How to Calculate the Relative Strength Index (RSI) in Excel, please give this site a like on Facebook and also be sure to check out some of the many templates that we have available for download. You can also follow me on Twitter and YouTube. Also, please consider buying me a coffee if you find my website helpful and would like to support it.
Bollinger Bands are used in technical analysis to help calculate and measure volatility. There are three bands that are included in chart: a moving average, and a lower and upper band. Normally, the upper and lower band are set to be within two standard deviations of the moving average. The standard deviation helps measure volatility and determines the width of the bands. As volatility increases, the band widens, and the opposite happens when volatility decreases.
The Bollinger Bands are often used by traders to identify opportunities for when to buy or sell a stock. If a stock price gets closer to the upper band, then it is considered to be overbought, and hence, this can be a time to sell. If, on the other hand, it is approaching the lower band, then it is oversold, and it may be an opportune time to buy. A similar tool that traders may also use is the Relative Strength Index, as that too tracks momentum and helps traders identify when a stock is overbought and oversold.
Why should you use Bollinger Bands?
Traders may use Bollinger Bands for a variety of reasons:
To identify buying and selling opportunities, such as when a stock is overbought or oversold. However, it’s important not to be overly reliant on a single indicator and it’s a good idea to also review other tools in conducting technical analysis to help confirm your trading decision.
Bollinger Bands can help gauge volatility. When the volatility is high, there is an opportunity for traders to take advantage of a large spread. With a large spread, there are more opportunities to buy low and sell high than there are when volatility is low and price is trading within just a narrow range.
Traders may also use Bollinger Bands to spot trends in the market as the bands will slope in a similar direction to price. This can help potentially identify buying and selling opportunities based on the stock’s trajectory.
How to create and chart Bollinger Bands
The process for creating a chart to show Bollinger Bands in Excel and Google Sheets is similar — the main difference is in how to pull in the stock price. The steps below go over the steps specific to Google Sheets:
Start with downloading the stock prices. In my example, I have downloaded the stock price for Meta Platforms going back to 2020. This was done using the GOOGLEFINANCE function in Google Sheets, and the formula is as follows: =GOOGLEFINANCE(“meta”,”price”,”1/1/2020″,today())
Calculate the 20-day moving average from the closing prices. This is done using the AVERAGE function. Assuming the closing prices start from cell B4, the formula would be as follows: =AVERAGE(B4:B23). Copy the formula down to all the cells.
Calculate the standard deviation using the STDEV function. This is also based on the last 20 closing prices and is copied down to the bottom of the data set. This is the formula to calculate the standard deviation based on this example: =STDEV(B4:B23).
Calculate the Upper Band. Do this by multiplying the standard deviation by 2, and adding that to the 20-day moving average. Assuming the 20-day moving average is in cell C23 and the standard deviation is in cell D23, this is what the formula would look like: =C23+D23*2
Calculate the Lower Band. For this, multiply the standard deviation by -2, and add that to the 20-day moving average. Based on the above assumptions, the formula would be as follows: =C23+D23*-2
Once all those formulas are entered, your data set should look something like this:
Next, create a line chart to show the values on a graph. Then apply any formatting (e.g. dotted lines, colors, etc) and you should have a visual that looks like this:
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If you’re looking to buy stocks, a one of the more common ratios you’ll likely consider in your analysis is the price-to-earnings, or P/E multiple. You can look at either the trailing P/E or the forward P/E. Below, I’ll look at what the difference between those multiples is, how to calculate each one, and how you can use them to determine a company’s expected growth rate.
What is the difference between the trailing P/E and the forward P/E?
The P/E ratio looks at the stock price in relation to earnings per share. If it’s a trailing earnings multiple, then that means you’re looking at the company’s earnings over the trailing twelve months, or ttm. A forward earnings multiple is based on analyst expectations and what the company’s earnings will be over the next year.
If a company had a worse year than normal or analysts are expecting lots of growth in the year ahead, the forward P/E will be lower than the trailing P/E. If, on the other hand, the company performed exceptionally well and perhaps benefitted from one-time gains, then its trailing P/E may look better (i.e. lower) than its forward P/E if analysts don’t expect a significant change in the business over the next year.
The smaller the gap between the trailing P/E and the forward P/E, the more consistent the earnings numbers are and the less of a change analysts are expecting from the previous year. If, however, the gap is significant, that could be an opportunity for investors because if a stock has a high trailing P/E multiple (due to an abnormally bad year), it can be missed on stock screeners if people are searching for stocks with low P/E multiples.
You can think of a forward P/E as what the company’s earnings will be in a normal or typical year whereas the trailing P/E is one that may have been distorted for a number of reasons.
How to calculate the trailing and forward P/E ratios
Here are the steps you can take to calculate the trailing P/E multiple:
Add the company’s net income over the past four quarters. This is its income over the trailing twelve months.
Take that total and divide it by the averaged diluted shares outstanding over the course of the year. Unless there’s a significant variation over the course of the past year, you can often just use the shares outstanding as of the most recent quarter. The result of this calculation will give you diluted earnings per share, or EPS.
Get the current share price and divide it by EPS. This will be your trailing P/E multiple.
Here’s how I did the above calculations for Tesla’s stock in Excel, based on data as of Jan. 16, 2023 that was pulled from Yahoo Finance:
For the forward P/E multiple, the calculation is more straightforward since it is based on analyst expectations. Here are the steps to calculated the forward P/E multiple:
Obtain the average analyst earnings per share estimate for the next year.
Take the current share price and divide it by that estimate.
If you go to Yahoo Finance and go under the Analysis tab, you will see a series of analyst expectations for earnings for the new year:
Since I’m looking for the full year, I’ll take the average estimate for ‘Next Year (2023)’ which is an EPS of $4.79. By taking the share price of $122.40 and dividing by this figure, I arrive at a forward P/E of 25.55. This tells me that analysts are expecting Tesla to have a better year in 2023 as its forecasted EPS of $4.79 is higher than the $3.23 it has reported over the past four quarters.
You can use earnings multiples to estimate the earnings growth analysts are forecasting
This year, analysts are projecting that the company’s EPS will be $4.79, which is 48% higher than the $3.23 it reported over the past four quarters. However, you can estimate how much growth analysts are expecting from the business without having to dive into the EPS numbers.
Since the numerator, price, in the P/E multiples remains constant, the only change is the earnings, the denominator. You can do the same earnings growth calculation by taking the trailing P/E and dividing it by the forward P/E, and then subtracting 1 from that value:
If the forward P/E is lower than the trailing P/E, that tells you that analysts are expecting that the company’s earnings are expected to decline in the coming year.
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If you’ve ever looked up historical stock prices on Yahoo Finance, you know that there is both a closing price and an adjusted closing price. Sometimes the values are the same, but sometimes there’s a difference In this post, I’ll cover why that happens, and how you can calculate the difference yourself.
What is the difference between the two prices?
The adjusted closing price in Yahoo Finance factors in the impact of dividend payments. For stocks that pay dividends, the further back you go, the greater the difference there will be between the close and the adjusted closing price. With the closing price, you’ll just see the raw change in price, whereas the adjusted closing price will also factor in the dividend, and that can give you a better view of how the stock’s total returns have been over time, not just from the increase in share price. And thus, the longer of a duration you’re looking at and the more dividend income along the way, that creates more of a gap between the close and adjusted close.
For stocks that don’t pay dividends, there will be no difference between these two values.
How to calculate the difference
A difference between the two prices in Apple’s stock history doesn’t show up until the last time it issued a dividend, on Nov. 4. Technically the company didn’t pay the dividend on that day, but that was the date of record for the dividend, and so investors who owned the stock at that date were eligible for the dividend. The actual payment took place later, on Nov. 10.
To factor in for this difference, we need to take the amount of the dividend ($0.23) and divide it by the stock’s price immediately before this date. On Nov. 3, the stock price closed at $138.88. Taking $0.23 and dividing it by the stock price returns a value of 0.001656. If we take 1 minus that amount, that equals 0.99834389. That’s what the closing price needs to be multiplied by to arrive at the adjusted close. Here’s how it looks in the spreadsheet:
That ‘dividend impact’ factor will be applied to every value before the dividend. And when doing that, you arrive at the adjusted closing price. However, that’s not the end of this because if we go to the next dividend in August, the values are off again:
The issue here is that we need to factor in another dividend payment. It’s another payment of $0.23 and this time the stock price was $165.81. The discount factor is now 0.99861287. However, this needs to be multiplied by the first discount factor as well, in order to ensure we are adjusting for both dividend payments. And so the correct factor is 0.996959:
You would need to continue to make these adjustments the further back in time you go, and each time, taking into account all the dividend payments in-between today and the date of the stock price on that day. This is why over time, the difference gets larger.
If you liked this post on How to Calculate Yahoo Finance’s Adjusted Closing Price, please give this site a like on Facebook and also be sure to check out some of the many templates that we have available for download. You can also follow us on Twitter and YouTube.
***UPDATE: There is a newer version of this template available here****
For a limited time, I have a free stock trading template that is available for you to download in Excel. If you buy and sell stocks often, this is a template that will help you easily enter in your trades and track your performance.
How to use the template
There are three main buttons on this template that you will need to use, all of which are located within the ribbon, under the Trading Journal group:
The Enter Transaction button will allow you to post and trades you make. Clicking on it will show the following pop up:
At the very top there is a Date Picker button which will allow you to select the date of the transaction, rather than manually entering it. Here is an overview of the other fields;
Ticker: this is simply the name of the stock you are buying.
Action: indicate whether you are buying, selling, or adding to an existing position.
Strategy: select your strategy for this transaction. If you want to add or remove available strategies, click on the Update Strategies button.
Shares this is the number of shares you are buying or selling.
Price: this is the price per share for the transaction.
Fees: the amount of any fees you have incurred on the transaction.
Once all this is entered, click on the button to Post Transaction and the details of the transaction will be posted to the Log sheet and an entry will be opened up on the Transactions tab. The Transactions tab will show you a summary of your positions, including any profits and losses, and whether they are open or closed.
There is a Settings tab where you can manually adjust strategies. You can also specify different holding categories should you want to track that (e.g. what constitutes a short, medium, or long holding period).
Once you’ve entered some transactions, you can head over to the Summary tab which will give you a visual breakdown of your investments. To be sure the data is updated correctly, click on the Refresh button in the ribbon button (not the default refresh option in Excel).
You can use slicers in the report to filter by different dates, strategies, and holding periods.
If you like this Stock Trading and Tracking Template, please give this site a like on Facebook and also be sure to check out some of the many templates that we have available for download. You can also follow us on Twitter and YouTube.
Warren Buffett fans like to track the billionaire investor’s moves, and a good way to do that is through Berkshire Hathaway’s 13f filings. His company reports its holdings every quarter, showing where there were changes in its positions. By looking at multiple filings, investors can track the changes from one period to another. With this free template, you can do that quickly and easily all on your own. All you have to do is specify the specific filings that you want to compare to one another.
How the template works
This template uses PowerQuery to grab the data from the 13f filings. It will then compare the two to find the changes in share count.
There are only two inputs you need for the template, both are on the Current.Holdings tab. You’ll need to paste the URL for the current 13f filing and the previous one (or whichever filings you want to compare against one another). It can sometimes be a bit tricky to get exactly what you’re after. Here’s how you can find the 13f filings for Berkshire Hathaway to use in this template:
Do a search for 13f so that you can see just the 13f filings on that page:
4. Find the reporting period you want and click on the Filing button — don’t click on the actual description next to it.
5. When you open up the link, you should see multiple files you can open. Select the information table that is in html format:
When you open the file, you should see the holdings in a table format:
If this is what you see, then the link you’ve downloaded will work. Note, on older 13f filings (e.g. 2013 and older), the format is in a text file and they won’t work with this template.
6. Copy the link and enter it into one of the fields on this template, either for the new filing or the old one.
7. Once you’ve filled in both the new and old links, then go to the Data tab in Excel and click on Refresh All. This will update the queries that the template relies on, and calculate the changes.
Now the different sheets will update:
Current.Holdings: this will show you the current holdings as per the New13f file
Change.In.Holdings: this will show you the change between the two filings. The change will be reflected in total shares and as a % of change in shares.
Old.Holdings: this will show the number of shares held per the Old13f file.
If you like the Berkshire Hathaway 13f Template, please give this site a like on Facebook and also be sure to check out some of the many templates that we have available for download. You can also follow us on Twitter and YouTube.
Do you want to calculate how quickly it will take for something to double in value? In this post, I’ll show you how to calculate that using the doubling time formula. By utilizing variables, it can also be easily updated in Excel to factor in different growth rates, making it easy to do what-if calculations.
What is the doubling time formula?
The doubling time formula utilizes logarithms and takes an assumed growth rate to determine how long it will take for a value to double in value. For example, if your investment were to rise at a rate of 10% per year for 10 years, it would be worth roughly 2.59 times what it is now. But rather than doing trial and error to try and determine exactly at what point it will double in value, you can use a formula to do that for you.
In essence, all the doubling time formula involves is taking the logarithm of the change in value you’re trying to get to (e.g. 2) and dividing that by the logarithm of the current growth rate plus 1 (e.g. 1 + 0.1 = 1.1). By doing this calculation, you get an answer of 7.27 for this example. You can plug that into the following formula to check:
1.1^7.27
And the result will 1.9995. The more decimal places you keep in the above calculation, the closer you will get to precisely 2. This formula can also be adapted if you want to calculate how long it will take to triple, or quadruple. In those cases, you can just change the numerator so that instead of taking log 2, you’re taking log 3 or log 4, if you want to calculate tripling or quadrupling time, respectively.
Setting up the formula in Excel
As you can see, this isn’t a terribly complex formula. The key is really just using logarithmic functions in Excel. And whether you use a natural log or not doesn’t matter, your results will be the same. You can use the LOG function for these purposes. In Excel, the earlier formula would be calculated as follows:
=LOG(2)/LOG(1.1)
To make it more versatile, I’ll also add some variables here. One for the current growth rate, and one for the target growth (this is where you can specify if you want to double, triple, quadruple, etc.). Here’s how that looks:
A value of 2 will read as 200% in Excel. The formula to calculate the years to double will simply need to be adjusted to factor in for these variables, which I’ve named TargetGrowth and GrowthRate in my file:
=LOG(TargetGrowth)/LOG(1+GrowthRate)
By utilizing these variables, I can now easily update my calculations.
Creating a LAMBDA function to make it even easier
Another thing you can do is to create your own LAMBDA function. If you’re on the latest version of Excel, these are custom functions you can ease, without the need to even set up a template and separate cells. All this involves is going to the Name Manager in Excel as if you were creating a new named range (the long way). Except when you create it, the name you’re assigning is the name of the function. And rather than referencing cells, you’re entering in a formula.
This particular function should contain two variables, one for the current growth rate, and one for the target. It will then plug them into the formula I referenced above. Here’s what the formula will need to look like within the Name Manager:
You’ll notice it needs the LAMBDA prefix so that Excel knows to treat this differently. Here’s how it looks within the Name Manager:
I called it DoublingTime even though it can do more than just calculate that. You can of course call it whatever you prefer. Now, this formula can be used in Excel to do the exact same calculation as above, without the need for extra cells:
You’ll notice here I’m just entering in raw values as opposed to percentages. This is just because of how I structured the formula and to keep it as simple as possible.
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Power Query can allow you to easily import data from another spreadsheet. But did you know that you can load multiple files from a folder at once? All you need to do is load the files you want to import into a folder, and Power Query can do the rest. In this article, I’ll show you how you can do this with stock prices and how you can import multiple ticker files from Yahoo Finance into Power Query at once.
Put all the files into a single folder
Whatever type of files you want to import, the key thing is that their format is consistent. This is because Power Query will follow a similar process when importing them. If, for example, you always remove certain columns from a file, then you want to make sure that every file you import has those columns. If there’s a discrepancy, then Power Query may struggle to load the files properly.
In this example, I’m going to use CSV files from Yahoo Finance. Let’s say I want to download data for multiple stock tickers. If I go to Apple’s stock ticker page, there’s a link to download the latest stock prices. In a previous post, I went over how to download stock prices for a single ticker. This time around, I’ll show you how you can do it for as many as you want. If I want to download multiple tickers, I’ll start by downloading all the different CSV files for them and putting them into just a single folder:
Here I’ve got multiple tickers downloaded, including Apple’s. This is now the folder I will reference when extracting the data from Power Query.
Importing the files Into Power Query
In Excel, the next step is to simply download the data. Under the Data tab, click on the Get Data button and select the option for From Folder:
Then, navigate to the folder where your files are stored and click on Open. Now the Power Query window will load and you should see something like this:
Here I see all the files from my folder. There are three different options I can take at this point:
Transform Data. Clicking on this option will allow me to transform the table above.
Load. If I don’t want to make any transformations and just load the table above, this is what I’ll select. But like the above option, this will not combine the data, so this is not what I want.
Combine. This is the option that I will choose as it will combine all these files together. From here, you’ll have the option to Combine and Transform or to just Transform and Load (e.g. if you don’t need to make any adjustments).
On the next screen, you can click on OK and the combined data will be loaded. To make the process as seamless as possible, you’ll want to ensure that your files follow the same format. Otherwise, it can be more difficult to get the desired results.
After clicking on OK, now the data loads, and all my stock data from Yahoo Finance is downloaded, with all the different tickers:
Now, you can add more downloads from Yahoo Finance for different tickers, put them in the same folder, and then just refresh the query. Your spreadsheet will now automatically update based on the CSV files within the folder.
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If you want to download a company’s financial statements or data, the easiest place is often straight from the source: the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC). You can download financials in Excel format if there is an interactive option within the SEC filing, but that won’t give you all the tables contained in an earnings report. In this example, I’m going to use Adobe’s most recent earnings report to show you how to get a table into Excel
Downloading the data
Adobe’s earnings report is found here, with the following financials on page 4:
Copying it into Excel
Copy the table and then go to paste it data into Excel. But when you right-click in Excel, make sure to select the option to paste it so it matches the formatting on the sheet, as shown below:
Now, the data pastes without any of the colors and formatting onto my Input sheet:
If when you paste it doesn’t show up like this and it looks like just a few lines, re-try copying the data. It may help not to include the header that says “three months ended” and simply start copying from the first line item (“revenue” in the above example”) to ensure that Excel picks it up as a table.
Formatting the data
It looks pretty good except that I have many extra columns. And numbers that have dollar signs have been pushed out by one column. What I will do here is create a template in a separate sheet that will automatically pull in what is needed. The new tab, called Output, will be where I create my formulas. My assumption is that the spacing will be consistent and that the current period values are in columns D and E, and the ones from the prior-year period are in columns J and K.
Starting in cell A1, I’ll create a simple formula that checks if the same value on the other sheet is blank. If it isn’t, then it will pull in the value, otherwise, it will remain blank:
=IF(Input!A1="","",Input!A1)
I will do the same thing for column B, except this time I am looking at values from the Input tab in column D. And I will need to adjust for if there is a $ sign. If there is, I need to pull the value from column E instead. Here’s what that formula looks like:
That gets me a bit closer to where I want to get to:
There are still a couple of issues. The first is that on row 30, there is a symbol that isn’t a dash that I need to remove. This is character code #151. And there’s also a trailing blank space behind the numbers that needs to be removed. This isn’t your ordinary blank space and it is character code #160. I need a couple of SUBSTITUTE functions to remove those character codes:
For character 151, I want to replace this with a 0 value since that’s what the symbol is in place of. Next, I need to convert these values to numbers. I can do this by multiplying them by a factor of 1. I’m going to use the IFERROR function as well so that in case it’s text, it will return the original value in column D. Here’s my completed formula:
Now, I can repeat this formula in the adjacent column. Except this time instead of referencing D and E, I’ll refer to columns J and K. Now, my output tab looks as follows, after applying some formatting to it:
This can be re-used over for other tables in an SEC report, as they generally follow the same pattern. For example, this is Adobe’s table showing sales by segment:
By dropping this into my Input tab, this is what my Outputnow shows:
All that I needed to do was to copy the formulas and just adjust the columns they referenced on the Inputtab. If you’d like to use the file I’ve created for your own use, you can download it for free, from here.
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