It's Not Bloomberg, But it's Free!

Yesterday I was checking out Google Docs. I have never spent much time with it, because it's no Excel, but it does have some cool features. One feature in specific caught my eye. In conjunction with Google Finance, Google Docs can become a useful market tool. Now it's no Bloomberg, and doesn't have anywhere near the functionality that Bloomberg's API add-on for Excel has, but it's a start. Here is more detailed instructions on how it works.

The GoogleFinance function uses the syntax: =GoogleFinance("Symbol","Attribute"); where "Symbol" represents the ticker of the stock or mutual fund you're looking for, and "Attribute" represents the type of market data desired (price, volume, change, etc). Also, the function allows you to get historical data on stock price, etc. So, this tool can be leveraged to create automated watch lists and models using Google Docs. Currently the amount of data that can be pulled from Google Finance on one sheet is limited, but for being free, one can't complain too much. Bloomberg limits you to 500,000 pulls per day, and I've reached that limit a few times. But, for those who want a free alternative, this works for basic data. Hopefully, Google will add the ability to pull data from financial statements (Revenue, NI, etc.).

To find the current market price of Google (GOOG), use the syntax: =GoogleFinance("GOOG","Price"); and the current price will be updated continuously.

Current market attributes available:

• price: market price of the stock - delayed by up to 20 minutes.
• priceopen: the opening price of the stock for the current day.
• high: the highest price the stock traded for the current day.
• low: the lowest price the stock traded for the current day.
• volume: number of shares traded of this stock for the current day.
• marketcap: the market cap of the stock.
• tradetime: the last time the stock traded.
• datadelay: the delay in the data presented for this stock using the googleFinance() function.
• volumeavg: the average volume for this stock.
• pe: the Price-to-Earnings ratio for this stock.
• eps: the earnings-per-share for this stock.
• high52: the 52-week high for this stock.
• low52: the 52-week low for this stock.
• change: the change in the price of this stock since yesterday's market close.
• beta: the beta value of this stock.
• changepct: the percentage change in the price of this stock since yesterday's close.
• closeyest: yesterday's closing price of this stock.
• shares: the number of shares outstanding of this stock.
• currency: the currency in which this stock is traded.

Current attributes for mutual funds:

• closeYest: the NAV of a mutual fund.
• date: date at which NAV (net asset value) was reported.
• returnytd: year-to-date return total.
• netassets: The day-end net assets of the mutual fund. Net-asset figures are useful in gauging a fund's size, agility, and popularity. They help determine whether a small company fund, for example, can remain in its investment-objective category if its asset base reaches an ungainly size.
• change: change in NAV value between the most recent reported NAV, and the NAV prior to that.
• changepct: the % change in the NAV.
• yieldpct: Also known as the distribution yield, Morningstar computes this End Yield figure by summing the trailing 12-month's income distributions and dividing the sum by the last month's ending NAV, plus capital gains distributed over the same time period. Income refers only to interest payments from fixed-income securities and dividend payments from common stocks.
• returnday: one-day total return.
• return1: one-week total return.
• return4: four-week total return.
• return13: thirteen-week total return.
• return52: 52 week total return.
• return156: 156 week total return.
• return 260: 260 week total return.
• incomedividend: the amount of the most recent cash distribution for the fund.
• incomedividenddate: the date the above occurred.
• capitalgain: the amount of the most recent capital gain distribution from the fund.
• capitalgaindate: the date of the above.
• morningstarrating: the Morningstar "star" rating.
• expenseratio: The percentage of fund assets used to pay for operating expenses and management fees, including 12b-1 fees, administrative fees, and all other asset-based costs incurred by the fund, except brokerage costs. Fund expenses are reflected in the fund's NAV. Sales charges are not included in the expense ratio.

I created the watch list below in about 10 minutes. During trading hours it updates continuously. Click the image to enlarge.

Here is the link to the worksheet in Google Docs.
Another example can be found here.