No. of Recommendations: 11
Hi Elan, any explanation as to why AMZN totally disappeared in the rankings?
I have no idea. I've checked the screening parameters and I'm mystified. Based on its Cash-LTD which is the final sort in ROE-Cash, AMZN should still be in 2nd position in that screen.
Mystery solved, with help from Larry Hill.
#TLDR - AMZN deserves to come off the screen.
It failed on the final sort by [Cash minus Long Term Debt Latest QTR]. I didn't see it because I thought the screen uses [Cash minus Long Term Debt] i.e. the annual figure, and that has not changed. But the quarterly figure did change. AMZN's LTD shot up from $61B to $134B. Its Cash-LTD plummeted from $40B to -$33B. So off the screen it came.
I'm concerned that the screen is using the number from the annual report for Cash, because VL doesn't provide a Cash Latest Qtr figure, while using a quarterly figure for LTD. In this case correcting it wouldn't have helped AMZN stay on the screen. Au contraire, its cash has dropped from $101B in the last annual report to $57B in the latest quarter.
For some reason the company is hemorrhaging cash through a fire hose and accumulating debt by the truckload. For their sake, I hope it's for good cause.
Elan
