Camden I would love to see your proforma, maybe for one stock...

Camden I would love to see your proforma, maybe for one stock you currently like, and also for one you don't like. For the one you don't like, could you make it Boart Longyear (BLY)? You have posted extensively on Boart, which I am currently analyzing as a short candidate. I had put together a financial format for them but my Reuters data only goes to 2008. I would like to see if our two formats match up on important details. My email is persistentone AT spamarrest.com. Spamarrest uses a challenge response email. If you don't want to answer that, just post here that you sent the email and I'll dig it out of the junkmail folder.

I have my own quick summary Excel format of financials I am putting together to try to focus on the issues you are highlighting regarding free cash generated on the behalf of shareholders. I'm looking at:

- Company's operating income before tax (and I calculate an after-tax number)
- EBITDA (which I calculate as the operating income before tax + Depreciation/Amortization). In Reuters data, the operating income is presented before interest.
- Company's net income after tax
- Operating Cash Flow
- Free Cash Flow (subtracting only capex, but it sounds like you are subtracting all forms of investment income?)
- Dividends and Capital Raisings
- Not sure if the concept is valid, but I also look at Free Cash Flow + Dividends - Capital Raisings, on the thought that this shows the cash required from shareholders over some time period studied. I ignore debt, and I am figuring that if there is a real return on debt it will come out in the earnings and free cash flow.
- I should probably add in some return on invested capital calculation but have not done it yet. That might be the best way to analyze debt, relative to your key concept of shareholder returns.

Once I get that format settled I'll post it here and would appreciate feedback.

I have looked at Bloomberg and Capital IQ. Both have fantastic data, but $24K/year is just too much of a hit for me. I wish that either product had an offering targeted to retail investors.