10-Second Summary
MoonshotScore rates a US-listed stock 0 to 100 using five sector-relative pillars. Higher means stronger numbers across business quality, safety, valuation, growth and momentum. Funds and ETFs carry none.
The five pillars are business quality, financial safety, valuation, growth durability, and momentum. The historical V1 table below explains archived records, not the current score.
How V2 Builds the Current Score
Sector-relative inputs form a weighted composite. Financial-fragility penalties are applied before ranking companies across the scored universe; data coverage and company size then draw the result toward 50. The headline is not an average of the five displayed pillar scores.
Business Quality
Is this a genuinely good business? Profitability, margins, and returns on capital versus sector peers.
Financial Safety
Could this blow up? Debt load, cash position, and overall balance-sheet strength.
Valuation
Am I paying a fair price? Price measured against fundamentals, relative to peers.
Growth Durability
Is the growth real and likely to last? Quality of the revenue and earnings trend, not one-off spikes.
Momentum
Is the market already moving on this? Recent price trend.
The V2 five-pillar model is recalculated from the most recent completed US trading session, so scores move on US trading days. The score's computation date shows its last successful calculation; a newer price does not mean the score has refreshed. A failed update leaves the previous dated score in place.
Technical appendix — MoonshotScore v3.3
This versioned appendix is generated from the constants used by the scoring engine. It documents the current company universe, transformations, missing and negative-value treatment, and every subtractive fragility penalty.
Scored universe
- NASDAQ, NYSE or AMEX listing
- Active stored common equity or ordinary ADR, plus unclassified listings with no evidence that they are a non-equity instrument; US-listed foreign companies are included
- Positive reported market capitalization
- Funds, ETFs, warrants, units, preferred shares and debt instruments excluded
Factor inputs
| Pillar | Inputs |
|---|
| Business Quality | ROIC, ROE, ROA, gross profit/assets, gross margin, operating margin, net margin, FCF yield |
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| Financial Safety | Altman Z, Piotroski score, net debt/EBITDA, debt/equity, interest cover, current ratio, beta |
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| Valuation | earnings yield, FCF yield, inverse EV/EBITDA, inverse EV/FCF, inverse EV/sales, inverse price/book, dividend yield |
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| Growth Durability | revenue growth, 3-year and 5-year revenue/share growth, EPS growth, operating-income growth, FCF growth, 5-year net-income/share growth, dilution (lower is better) |
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| Momentum | 12-month, 6-month and 3-month price change, plus price/high-52-week ratio |
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Transformations
| Stage | Executable rule |
|---|
| Peer groups | Compare within sector when at least 8 companies report a factor; otherwise pool the small sectors. |
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| Outliers | With at least 5 readings, winsorize at the 2th and 98th percentile. |
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| Standardization | Robust z = 0.6745 × (value − median) ÷ MAD, clipped to ±3; lower-is-better factors reverse sign. |
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| Input caps | ROIC and ROE are capped at ±0.6; revenue growth at ±0.6; 3-year revenue/share at ±0.5; 5-year revenue/share and net income/share at ±0.4; EPS, operating-income and FCF growth at ±1. |
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| Ratios | Interest cover uses signed log1p after a ±20 cap. Debt-to-equity uses log1p after a 20 cap; when net debt/EBITDA is from 0 to 1, a debt/equity reading above 1 is omitted. EV/EBITDA, EV/FCF, EV/sales and price-to-book are inverted subject to the negative-value rules below. |
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| Pillars and guards | Average available factor z-scores. Positive Valuation is multiplied by 0.5 after a negative ROIC or FCF yield; positive Growth is multiplied by 0.4 after a negative net margin. |
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| Rank and shrink | Rank the fragility-adjusted composite, then apply 50 + (percentile − 50) × √(coverage × size factor). The size factor ranges from 0.5 to 1 across log10 market cap 7.7 to 9.3. |
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| Published precision | Round the headline to 1 decimal, coverage and fragility to 2 decimals, and displayed pillar percentiles to 0 decimals. |
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Missing values
- Blank, None and non-finite provider values become null, never zero.
- A missing metric is omitted from its pillar average. A pillar with no usable metrics is omitted and the remaining pillar weights are rescaled.
- Coverage is the weighted share of usable factor inputs; lower coverage draws the final percentile toward 50.
- Financial Services omits enterprise-value multiples, Altman Z, net-debt-to-EBITDA, debt-to-equity, interest cover, current ratio and gross profit per asset.
Negative values
- Negative debt-to-equity and negative net-debt-to-EBITDA readings are treated as missing because their denominators do not support a leverage comparison.
- EV/EBITDA, EV/free-cash-flow and price-to-book must be positive before inversion; zero or negative values are treated as missing.
- A zero EV/sales multiple is missing. A negative EV/sales multiple remains a signed input, matching the current engine.
- Negative earnings yield, free-cash-flow yield, margins and growth rates remain observations; they can lower peer ranks and activate the value-trap, growth or fragility rules.
Subtractive fragility penalties
| Trigger | Amount subtracted before percentile ranking |
|---|
| Altman Z below 1.1 (except Financial Services and Real Estate) | (1.1 − max(Z, -1)) × 0.9 |
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| Altman Z from 1.1 to below 1.8 (same exceptions) | (1.8 − Z) × 0.2 |
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| Positive net margin with income quality below 0.8 | (0.8 − max(income quality, -1)) × 0.6 |
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| Negative retained earnings and negative net margin | 1.2 + min(|net margin|, 1) × 0.8 |
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| Otherwise, negative net margin and negative FCF yield | 0.8 + min(|net margin|, 1) × 0.6 |
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Mechanical worked example
In a two-company demonstration universe, the higher adjusted composite has zero-based rank index 1. Its raw percentile is 100 × (1 + 0.5) ÷ 2 = 75.0. With 100% coverage and market cap at the size-ramp ceiling ($1,995,262,315), the size factor is 1.0, so the final score is 50 + (75.0 − 50) × √(1.0 × 1.0) = 75.0. This demonstrates the engine mechanics; it is not a company score or market-data claim.
Historical V1 Formula (9-Signal Model)
Legacy V1 nine-signal calculations are retained as historical records only. They are not used as a fallback when a current V2 score is unavailable. The weighted formula below documents that historical model. See the full methodology for current V2 scores.
// Legacy MoonshotScore Calculation
MoonshotScore = (
Revenue Growth Score x 20%
+ Gross Margin Score x 10%
+ Operating Leverage Score x 10%
+ Cash Runway Score x 10%
+ R&D Intensity Score x 10%
+ Insider Activity Score x 15%
+ Trading Liquidity Score x 5%
+ Price Momentum Score x 10%
+ News Sentiment Score x 10%
)
Questions to Ask When Reading V2
Use the same five pillars to frame different company questions. These examples guide research; they are not statements about today's score or its leading drivers:
NVDA (NVIDIA)
High-Growth Tech
For NVIDIA, compare revenue and earnings growth with profitability and valuation. Read the dated pillar breakdown to see which inputs actually helped or reduced the score.
View NVDA Analysis →
TSLA (Tesla)
Disruptor / High Volatility
For Tesla, check whether growth, valuation and financial safety tell a consistent story. Momentum reflects the price inputs in the dated calculation; it does not change with every live price tick.
View TSLA Analysis →
MSFT (Microsoft)
Mega-Cap / Steady Compounder
For Microsoft, examine profitability, financial safety and growth alongside the valuation paid for them. Confirm the calculation date before comparing its score with another company.
View MSFT Analysis →
Note: These examples are research prompts, not investment recommendations or claims that scores change every day. The calculation uses the available data and may leave a previous dated result in place if an update fails. See our full disclaimer. Corrections to this methodology, and open issues with it, are listed in the corrections log.
Frequently Asked Questions
What factors make up the MoonshotScore?
MoonshotScore V2 is the only current scoring model. MoonshotScore V2 covers eligible common stocks and ADRs on NASDAQ, NYSE and AMEX. OTC listings are outside the scheduled universe; funds, ETFs, warrants, units, SPACs, preferreds, and notes carry no MoonshotScore.
Companies are compared using business quality, financial safety, valuation, growth durability, and momentum. Sector-relative inputs are combined, adjusted for financial fragility and ranked across the scored universe; limited data coverage and company size draw scores toward the midpoint. The headline is not an average of the five displayed pillar scores or a probability of future returns. Bands are Exceptional (80-100), Strong (65-79), Fair (45-64), Weak (below 45). The V2 five-pillar model is recalculated from the most recent completed US trading session, so scores move on US trading days. The score's computation date shows its last successful calculation; a newer price does not mean the score has refreshed. A failed update leaves the previous dated score in place. Legacy V1 nine-signal calculations are retained as historical records only. They are not used as a fallback when a current V2 score is unavailable.
How is MoonshotScore different from other rating systems?
MoonshotScore V2 combines five sector-relative pillars into a 0-100 score, with adjustments for financial fragility, data coverage and company size. Its calculation date and available pillar breakdown help readers inspect the result.
Greater model detail does not establish better investment performance.
Can I see how each factor contributes to a stock's score?
A V2 score can include five pillar scores and the available score drivers. The displayed pillar scores are explanatory percentiles; averaging them does not reproduce the headline score. A missing breakdown is not filled with legacy V1 factors.
What is a good MoonshotScore?
MoonshotScore uses these analysis bands: Exceptional (80-100), Strong (65-79), Fair (45-64), Weak (below 45). Letter grades belong to the retired V1 model and appear only on archived records. Bands describe the model's assessment, not buy or sell recommendations.
How often does MoonshotScore update?
The V2 five-pillar model is recalculated from the most recent completed US trading session, so scores move on US trading days. The score's computation date shows its last successful calculation; a newer price does not mean the score has refreshed.
A failed update leaves the previous dated score in place.
Can MoonshotScore predict stock prices?
No. MoonshotScore measures company fundamentals, valuation and price momentum using available data. It is not a probability of future returns or a price target. A high score does not guarantee a rising share price.
Is MoonshotScore available for all stocks?
MoonshotScore V2 covers eligible common stocks and ADRs on NASDAQ, NYSE and AMEX. OTC listings are outside the scheduled universe; funds, ETFs, warrants, units, SPACs, preferreds, and notes carry no MoonshotScore.
Eligibility does not guarantee a result: a company needs usable inputs for a V2 calculation. Without a usable result, no current score is shown. Archived V1 values are not substituted.
How does MoonshotScore handle different market sectors?
V2 compares inputs with sector peers where there are enough companies for the calculation; smaller sector samples are pooled. It also excludes unsuitable factors for financial companies.
The final composite is ranked across the scored universe and adjusted for data coverage and company size.