Methodology
Built to be checked.
This page explains where the numbers come from and what each lens measures. It also says plainly where the method stops. Nothing here is a recommendation.
Where the numbers come from
Every company figure starts in a company's own filings with the SEC, retrieved from EDGAR, and the data is refreshed nightly. Filter Lab does not use analyst estimates and does not adjust the reported numbers. What a company filed is what you see, with a link back to the source.
The turbulence measure is the exception, and it is worth being precise about: it is computed from end-of-day price history, not from filings. Where a published figure describes how a company's stock behaved rather than what it reported, the input is market data, not EDGAR. Market Data Sourced by Tiingo.com.
The three lenses
Structural dynamics
This lens looks at how steady a company's numbers are, not only how large. A figure can look healthy while the stability underneath it is already deteriorating. By tracking the variance in a company's results and its stock over time, the lens describes whether the ground is firm or shifting.
Traditional fundamentals
This is the ground analysts already stand on: margins, cash flow, leverage, and coverage, read against the company's own history and its sector. Nothing exotic. The point is to state these clearly and consistently, in one place, without spin.
Forensic accounting
This lens asks whether the reported numbers hang together. It uses established forensic measures, including the Beneish M-score and the Altman and Piotroski frameworks, to flag where the accounting deserves a closer look. A flag is a question, not an accusation.
How the lenses read together
The three lenses run independently. When they point the same way, you have a consistent story. When one disagrees with the other two, that disagreement is the most useful thing on the page, because it marks exactly where to dig.
Where the method stops
Filter Lab reads the public record. It cannot see fraud that never reached a filing, and it cannot see an event that has not happened yet. Anything a company chose not to disclose is invisible to it too. It does not predict prices and it does not time markets. Treat it as a careful reading, and pair it with your own judgment.
What it will never do
No price targets, and no buy or sell calls. Filter Lab describes what the filings show. It does not tell you what to do about them. That line is deliberate, and it does not move.
Related explainers
Plain-language reads on the terms this analysis uses: