Return-since-published badges

A return-since-published badge tracks how an article's headline ticker has moved since the day it was published, shown next to the S&P 500's move over the same period. This page explains what the badge shows, how to read each figure, and how the return, the benchmark, and the trading-day count are computed. The badge appears on article cards and article pages for every reader, on the same terms as the article itself.

Before you begin

Open the Research list or any article. The badge is shown for you and needs no setup. For the list, see Articles overview.

What it shows

The badge appears in two places, with the same underlying figures.

On article cards in the list: a compact chip showing the primary ticker and its return, with the S&P 500 (SPY) return beside it. A hover reveals fuller detail: the precise return, the SPY return, the number of trading days, and the publish date.
On the article page: a "Performance since publication" strip with three figures (the ticker's return, the move versus SPY, and the number of trading days), plus the publish date.

Color and direction read as follows: green with an up arrow when the ticker is up, red with a down arrow when it is down, and a muted "FLAT" state when the move is under one tenth of one percent. A delisted ticker shows a muted "Delisted" chip instead of a return.

Inputs

The badge takes no input. It is read-only and computed for you, with no controls. It is shown for the article's primary ticker only, not for secondary tickers.

Outputs and how to read them

Ticker return: the percentage change in the primary ticker since the article was published. A positive figure means the stock rose, a negative figure means it fell.
vs SPY: the S&P 500's percentage change over the same window, as a market benchmark. Compare the two to see whether the call beat or lagged the broad market.
Trading days: how many market days have passed since publication, which tells you how mature the comparison is. A handful of days is early, many months is a longer track record.
FLAT: the move is negligible (under one tenth of one percent), shown instead of a near-zero number to avoid a misleadingly precise "+0.0%".
Delisted: the ticker no longer has fresh prices, so a return is not shown.
No badge: when prices have not yet caught up to the publish date, or data is unavailable, the badge is hidden entirely.

How it is calculated

Three figures drive the badge: the ticker return, the benchmark return, and the trading-day count.

Ticker return

The ticker return is how much the headline stock has gained or lost from its closing price on the first trading day on or after publication to its most recent close.

return percent = (latest close / publish close − 1) × 100

In this formula, publish close is the ticker's split-and-dividend-adjusted closing price on the first trading day on or after the publish date (price per share), and latest close is its most recent adjusted closing price (price per share). The window runs from the publish date to the latest available trading day. For example, the first close after publication is 100.00 and the latest close is 117.97, so the return is (117.97 divided by 100.00, minus 1), times 100, which is +17.97 percent. The figure uses adjusted closing prices only, not intraday highs or lows, and it tracks the primary ticker only, so it does not reflect any secondary names the article also discusses.

Benchmark return versus SPY

The benchmark return is the broad U.S. market's move over the exact same period, so you can judge the call against the market rather than in isolation.

SPY return percent = (SPY latest close / SPY publish close − 1) × 100

Here SPY publish close is the S&P 500 proxy's adjusted close on the article's publish trading day, and SPY latest close is the proxy's most recent adjusted close, over the same window as the ticker return. For example, SPY closes at 500.00 on the publish day and 525.00 at the latest close, so the SPY return is (525.00 divided by 500.00, minus 1), times 100, which is +5.00 percent. A ticker up 17.97 percent has therefore beaten the market by about 13 percentage points over that span. The benchmark is the broad S&P 500 only, not a sector- or industry-matched peer, so a ticker may look like it beat or lagged "the market" while tracking its own sector closely.

Trading days

The trading-day count shows how long the comparison has been running. It counts the U.S. market trading days that fall after the publish date up to and including the latest trading day, using SPY's trading calendar as the day grid.

trading days = count of SPY trading days in (publish date, latest date]

In this formula, publish date is the article's publish trading day (excluded from the count), and latest date is the latest available trading day (included in the count). For example, an article published on a Monday with the latest close 30 market days later shows 30 trading days. The count uses trading days, not calendar days, so weekends and market holidays are excluded and the number is smaller than the calendar gap.

Data and timing

The badge uses end-of-day adjusted closing prices from AlphaVantage, which covers Nasdaq-listed and other U.S. quotes, against the S&P 500 proxy SPY. It is refreshed once per trading day after the market closes, so the figure reflects the latest completed session, not live intraday prices. The publish-date reference price is frozen at first computation: later price backfills or a republish do not move the starting point, so only the trailing return updates each day. Until prices reach the publish date, the badge stays hidden.

Use cases

Gauge at a glance whether an article's headline call has worked out so far.
Compare a stock's move against the market to separate stock-specific results from a broad rally or selloff.
Judge how seasoned a track record is by reading the trading-day count before weighing the return.
Spot when a featured company has been delisted via the muted "Delisted" state.

Limitations and disclosures

The badge presents past performance. Past performance is no guarantee of future results, and the figure is a single-stock, market-only comparison, not a recommendation. The benchmark is the broad market, not a sector-matched peer, so use the comparison as context rather than a verdict.

GNG Research provides equity research and educational tools, not investment advice. Nothing on the platform is a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Do your own research and consider your circumstances before making any investment decision.