## Value Factors

The standard definition of earnings yield is the earnings per share divided by the price of a share. It's the inverse of P/E and shows the amount of money earned compared to the price you pay for a share.

Our earnings yield is slightly different and is in line with what Joel Greenblatt uses. As numerator, we use Operating income aka EBIT. As Joel explains:

By using EBIT (which looks at actual operating earnings before interest expense and taxes) and comparing it to enterprise value, we can calculate the pre-tax earnings yield on the full purchase price of a business (i.e., pre-tax operating earnings relative to the price of equity plus any debt assumed). This allows us to put companies with different levels of debt and different tax rates on an equal footing when comparing earnings yields.

Joel Greenblatt in The Little Book That Still Beats the Market

As denominator, we use Enterprise Value (EV) as it takes into account both the price paid for an equity stake in the business as well as the debt financing used to help generate operating earnings.

We calculate the Earnings Yield as follows:

$Earnings Yield = Operating Income Enterprise Value$

While Greenblatt's magic formula combines earnings yield with the quality ratio ROIC, a more recent study concluded that the formula derives all its magic from Earnings Yield and none from ROIC. According to Gray and Carlisle, a portfolio of stocks sorted only on the cheapness metric achieves an astounding return of 15.95% a year and outperforms the two-metric magic formula by more than 2% per year.

In the scorecard, we show the Earnings Yield for the selected stock. We also calculate the median Earnings Yield for all stocks, the company's sector, industry group, and industry. Finally, we include the percentile so you can easily compare a company to its peers. For more information, click here.