scatterplots

[Mary Kennedy]

Hi Mark. I am trying to learn how to use the risk/reward scatterplots and in particular how to control which investments are included or excluded from a specific scatterplot.

One thing I tried was to compare sectors. I have about 60 stocks that are all defined in terms of their sectors and they represent all the major sectors, that is, financials, energy, industry, etc. So I asked for a risk/reward scatterplot of sectors but only two sector icons appeared on the chart. So here are my questions:

1. I wonder if the problem is that the score range is not broad enough to capture the full range of returns, as they go from pretty negative to pretty positive. If that is the problem, how do I tell it to expand the scale?

2. I also wonder how to ensure that a given icon represents all the stocks that I have in that sector. E.g., when I see an icon for, say, the Energy sector, is there a way for me to check it and make sure it includes all my holdings in that sector?

3. I also wonder about the menu option that allows me to select specific investments to include. This menu lists all my individual holdings but if I am comparing sectors, for instance, do I need to also stipulate all the specific investments to include or does it automatically include them if they are pre-defined as in a sector?

4. I'd sure like it if I could save graphs, just as I can save reports. I can envision a lot of variations on the risk/reward chart, for instance, and would like to save them as separate graphs to recall later on.

[Mark]

Hi Mary Kennedy,

1) You can find out why not all sectors are being graphed by using "Help / Graph Calculation Log...". The problem is usually related to missing price data points and/or too tight of yield interpolation range settings. The X axis is the standard deviation of monthly returns for the comparison period you set under "Risk/Reward Options...". This means you need a price point every month back from the ending graph date. If you don't have a price on the exact required date, you need to be able to interpolate one from the surrounding recorded prices. You might need to retrieve more historical prices, shorten your comparison period, or loosen up the "Options / Yields / Interpolation Range..." settings, or any combination of these things.

2) It will include all investments in that sector. You can confirm by creating a report, like a Portfolio Value report, and sub-totaling by sector, or filtering by sector. This will show you all the investments in each sector.

3) Are you asking about the "Overlaid Investments..." dialog? If so, that is only for the investments you want to overlay on top of any sectors. You don't have to specify anything here. This feature is often used to specify an index, so you can overlay an index, and compare it to each sector/etc.

4) Okay, thanks for the feedback.