Version 1.0, published Oct 22, 2026: 7 criteria, 1 source, 0 of the 7 measures backed by peer-reviewed research.
Benjamin Graham's philosophy, applied to ETFs
In the tradition of Benjamin Graham, this seat reads 7 criteria from ETFIQ data, version 1.0 of Oct 22, 2026. Are you paying less than the holdings are worth?
Bio
Benjamin Graham was born in London on May 9, 1894. His family moved to New York when he was a year old. He graduated second in Columbia's class of 1914 and went straight to Wall Street, starting in the bond department of Newburger, Henderson & Loeb.
On Jan 1, 1926, he opened the Benjamin Graham Joint Account with money from friends and his own savings. Jerome Newman joined him late that year and stayed for 30 years. Graham-Newman Corporation took over from the partnership on Jan 1, 1936. In 1928 he began 28 years of evening lectures at Columbia's business school. David Dodd sat in his first class.
Graham and Dodd published *Security Analysis* in 1934. Graham wrote *The Intelligent Investor* in 1949 for lay readers and revised it in 1954, 1959, 1965 and 1973.
In 1948 Graham-Newman bought half of Government Employees Insurance Company (GEICO) for $720,000, about a quarter of the fund's assets, and passed the shares on to its own holders. Graham later said that this one decision earned more than all his other investments put together.
The fund's wider record was steadier than spectacular. A 1977 study by the Financial Analysts Research Foundation found that from Jan 31, 1945, to Aug 20, 1956, excluding GEICO's gains after its 1948 distribution, Graham-Newman earned 17.4% a year before its management fee and 15.5% after it. The S&P 500 earned 18.3% a year. The fund carried far less market risk, with a beta of 0.39.
Graham and Newman wound up the firm in 1956. Graham moved to California and taught at UCLA. He died at his home in Aix-en-Provence, France, on Sept 21, 1976, aged 82.
Philosophy
Graham drew a hard line between investing and speculating. An investment, in his definition, rests on thorough analysis, protects the money put in, and aims for a return that is adequate rather than spectacular. Anything that fails those tests is speculation, whatever it is called. He first set the definition down in *Security Analysis* in 1934 and repeated it at the start of *The Intelligent Investor*.
The idea he put above all others was the margin of safety. He opens the last chapter of *The Intelligent Investor* by naming it the central concept of investment. For a bond, the margin is the amount by which a company's past earnings exceed its interest bill. For a stock, it is the gap between the price paid and a sober estimate of what the business is worth. The margin does not need to be exact; Graham wrote that it makes an accurate estimate of the future unnecessary. It needs to be wide enough to absorb miscalculation or worse than average luck. A wide margin bought at a low price, spread across many holdings, was his answer to an unknowable future.
He wrote for two kinds of reader. The defensive investor wants safety and freedom from bother. Graham told that reader never to hold less than 25% or more than 75% of the portfolio in stocks, with an even split as the standard, leaning toward stocks only when prices were low. The stock portion should hold 10 to about 30 large, prominent, conservatively financed companies. The enterprising investor, willing to do more work, could hunt for bargains. Graham's own firm had bought many stocks priced below their net current assets alone, with nothing paid for plant or other assets.
His most famous image is Mr. Market, the moody partner who offers each day to buy or sell at a price that swings with his temper. Graham's point was that a quoted price is an offer, not a verdict. The investor can take it when it is foolish and ignore it otherwise.
His thinking moved in two directions late in life. First, GEICO showed that one fine business held for decades could outweigh a career of cheap statistical bargains, and he said so. Second, he grew doubtful that detailed security analysis still paid. In a March 6, 1976, interview he said institutional funds should start from an index of 100 or 150 S&P 500 stocks, with managers paid only for any improvement on it. He added that two decades of experience suggested one could have done as well with the S&P 500 as with a great deal of work.
Seen together, Graham's method is a discipline rather than a formula: measure value conservatively, pay well below it, diversify, and let the market's moods work for you rather than on you.
Key works
- *Security Analysis*, with David L. Dodd (McGraw-Hill, 1934; revised 1940, 1951, 1962). - *The Interpretation of Financial Statements*, with Spencer B. Meredith (Harper, 1937); later revised with Charles McGolrick. - "Is American Business Worth More Dead Than Alive?" *Forbes*, three articles, June 1 to July 1, 1932. - *Storage and Stability* (McGraw-Hill, 1937) and *World Commodities and World Currency* (McGraw-Hill, 1944). - *The Intelligent Investor* (Harper, 1949; revised 1954, 1959, 1965, 1973). The 1973 fourth revised edition is the text reprinted, with commentary by Jason Zweig, in the HarperBusiness revised edition of 2003, the edition paged in this profile. - "The Renaissance of Value" (Financial Analysts Research Foundation, 1974). - "A Conversation with Benjamin Graham," *Financial Analysts Journal* 32(5), Sept 1976.
What we cannot know
Graham-Newman's year-by-year record is published only from 1945, so his results before then, and the full value of the GEICO distribution to each holder, cannot be reconstructed from primary figures.
Source quality
Strong. His own books, and a 1977 biography and interview transcript published by the profession's research foundation and built from his unpublished memoir draft. The fund record before 1945 is not documented.
In his words
“Confronted with a like challenge to distill the secret of sound investment into three words, we venture the motto, MARGIN OF SAFETY.”
The Graham-style Margin of Safety seat
Graham-style Margin of Safety is one seat of the IQ Investment Committee. It applies Benjamin Graham's own book, The Intelligent Investor to ETFIQ data.
What the investor published
In ETFIQ’s words, with the source of each. Sourced to Benjamin Graham's own book, The Intelligent Investor.
Pay well below what a business is worth, so that mistakes and bad luck still leave you whole. (Benjamin Graham, The Intelligent Investor (HarperBusiness, revised edition, updated with new commentary by Jason Zweig, 2003; its chapter text is Graham's 1973 fourth revised edition, and pages are cited from it, 2003), ch. 20, p. 512)
The defensive investor owns ten to about thirty large, prominent, conservatively financed companies. (Benjamin Graham, The Intelligent Investor (HarperBusiness, revised edition, updated with new commentary by Jason Zweig, 2003; its chapter text is Graham's 1973 fourth revised edition, and pages are cited from it, 2003), ch. 5, p. 114)
Set an outer limit on price: 25 times average earnings of the past seven years, and 20 times the last twelve months'. (Benjamin Graham, The Intelligent Investor (HarperBusiness, revised edition, updated with new commentary by Jason Zweig, 2003; its chapter text is Graham's 1973 fourth revised edition, and pages are cited from it, 2003), ch. 5, rule 4, p. 115)
Seven tests for each company: size, financial condition, earnings stability, dividend record, earnings growth, and a moderate price against earnings and against assets. (Benjamin Graham, The Intelligent Investor (HarperBusiness, revised edition, updated with new commentary by Jason Zweig, 2003; its chapter text is Graham's 1973 fourth revised edition, and pages are cited from it, 2003), ch. 14, pp. 348-349)
He read the seven tests on the Dow as a whole at the end of 1970, which met them all, two of them only just. (Benjamin Graham, The Intelligent Investor (HarperBusiness, revised edition, updated with new commentary by Jason Zweig, 2003; its chapter text is Graham's 1973 fourth revised edition, and pages are cited from it, 2003), ch. 14, p. 350)
Research behind the measures
Peer-reviewed research on how each measure is taken. It never adds a criterion, and where it weakens one the criterion says so.
Henry R. Oppenheimer (1984), A Test of Ben Graham's Stock Selection Criteria, Financial Analysts Journal 40(5), 68-74 (doi:10.2469/faj.v40.n5.68). NYSE and AMEX stocks screened on Graham's criteria from 1974 to 1981, with an earnings yield at least twice the AAA bond yield and debt below book value, beat the market index by a wide margin after adjusting for risk and size.
Dwi Kartikasari (2016), A Test of Graham's and Lynch's Stock Screening Criteria on Shares Traded on the Indonesian Stock Exchange (IDX), Journal of Indonesian Economy and Business 31(1), 22-38 (doi:10.22146/jieb.10318). Portfolios that had to pass Graham's criteria in full held too few stocks to be diversified and did not beat the market consistently after risk; Lynch's combined criteria did better.
Henry R. Oppenheimer (1986), Ben Graham's Net Current Asset Values: A Performance Update, Financial Analysts Journal 42(6), 40-47 (doi:10.2469/faj.v42.n6.40). Stocks priced below their net current asset value beat market benchmarks from 1970 to 1983 on mean and risk-adjusted returns, and the cheapest against net current assets beat them by the most.
Joseph D. Vu (1988), An Empirical Analysis of Ben Graham's Net Current Asset Value Rule, Financial Review 23(2), 215-225 (doi:10.1111/j.1540-6288.1988.tb00787.x). Stocks priced below their net current asset value still earned abnormal returns in the 1970s and early 1980s, and later mergers do not explain the gain.
Ying Xiao and Glen Arnold (2008), Testing Benjamin Graham's Net Current Asset Value Strategy in London, The Journal of Investing 17(4), 11-19 (doi:10.3905/joi.2008.17.4.011). On the London Stock Exchange from 1981 to 2005, stocks with net current assets well above their market value earned market-adjusted returns that size and the usual risk factors do not explain.
Joseph D. Piotroski (2000), Value Investing: The Use of Historical Financial Statement Information to Separate Winners from Losers, Journal of Accounting Research 38, 1-41 (doi:10.2307/2672906). Among stocks cheap against book value, a simple score of nine accounting signals separates the financially strong from the weak, and favouring the strong raised returns materially: quality tests applied inside a cheap set work.
Compare and model modes
In compare mode funds are ordered by the seat’s score, and ties break on the group's P/E on three years' earnings, lowest first.
In model mode: In each sleeve, the fund with the lowest group price against three years' earnings, among funds that meet the most of the seven tests.
How the seat is tested
The cases this seat must pass before it ships, with the result each must give.
A group that meets all seven: Supports. Priced at 12 times three years' earnings and 1.2 times book, large, sound, profitable every year, paying dividends for twenty and growing: the Dow at the end of 1970 as Graham read it.
A bank fund above his 15, within his outer limit, its dividends unread: Mixed (Price against three years' earnings: Mixed, Price against book value: Mixed, Strong financial condition: does not apply). 18 times three years' earnings is above Graham's 15, but within his outer limit for the defensive investor, 25 times seven years' and 20 times twelve months'; 1.55 times book sits within the narrow band for measurement. Mixed, never a pass, and nothing the dividend record could show would change it. The fund is nearly all banks, which Graham sets no financial-condition test, so that test does not apply.
A bank fund that meets every test that applies: Supports (Strong financial condition: does not apply). Priced at 12 times three years' earnings and 1.1 times book, large, profitable every year, paying dividends for twenty and growing. Graham sets banks no financial-condition test, so the six tests that apply decide, and all six are met.
Beyond his outer limit: Challenges (Price against three years' earnings: Challenges). 30 times three years' earnings, and beyond both of Graham's outer limits: no margin of safety in the price.
Cheap, with a weak balance sheet: Mixed (Strong financial condition: Challenges). Both price tests met, but the companies together carry too little working capital: Graham asked for all seven.
Above 15, its seven years' earnings unread: Not enough data. Above Graham's 15, and with seven years' earnings unread it cannot be told whether it sits within his outer limit: a band never turns an unread figure into a reading.
A group with no earnings to price: Challenges (Price against three years' earnings: Challenges). The group's earnings over three and seven years are not positive, so it has no P/E at all: no margin of safety.
A fund of nine holdings: does not apply. Under the ten issues Graham asked the defensive investor to own, so not read as a group.
RPV: any result but Supports. The S&P 500's cheapest stocks by its Pure Value rules. 54% of its weight can be priced on three years' earnings here, under the 70% the group reading needs, so it reads Not enough data rather than a guess. Figures read on Oct 22, 2026.
AVUV: any result but Supports. Small-cap value, 698 companies. 5% of its weight can be priced on three years' earnings here, far under the 70% the group reading needs, so it reads Not enough data; whatever its prices would show, it is not read as passing. Figures read on Oct 22, 2026.
VUG: Challenges. The textbook fail: large-cap growth, priced far above earnings and book.
ARKK: any result but Supports. Many holdings with thin or no earnings, and too few of them read (62% of its weight on three years' earnings, 45% on seven) for the group to be priced: no margin of safety can be shown, and the seat says so rather than guessing. Figures read on Oct 22, 2026.
Changes to this seat
Version 1.0, Oct 22, 2026: First version: the seven tests on the fund read as one company; above his 15 times earnings, Graham's own outer limit reads Mixed, and a narrow band for measurement on price to book.
Where to next
Scope
A fund of ten holdings or more, read as one company: Graham asked the defensive investor for at least ten issues (ch. 5, p. 114). A fund with no look-through has no group to read.
Before this seat publishes: Not published until the ETF adaptation is signed off and the nightly look-through publishes for US funds, with the share of weight that meets each test.
Source strength: Strong: the investor’s own books, letters or memos. Graham's own book. His seven tests and his outer price limit carry his own numbers; reading them on a fund as one company is how he read the Dow, and the parts of that reading he states only in words are ETFIQ's, labelled.
Lenses apply publicly known investing principles to ETFIQ data. No investor named is affiliated with or endorses ETFIQ. Not investment advice.
Sources
The published work each criterion is sourced to
| Source | What it provides | Read | Spec |
|---|---|---|---|
| Benjamin Graham, The Intelligent Investor | The defensive investor's four rules for the stock portfolio, among them at least ten issues and an outer limit on price (ch. 5, pp. 114-115); the seven tests of size, financial condition, earnings stability, dividend record, earnings growth and price (ch. 14, pp. 348-349) and their reading on the Dow Jones Industrial Average as a group at the end of 1970 (ch. 14, p. 350); the margin of safety (ch. 20) | HarperBusiness, revised edition, updated with new commentary by Jason Zweig, 2003; its chapter text is Graham's 1973 fourth revised edition, and pages are cited from it, 2003 | document ↗ |
Definitions and method
Is the fund, read as one company, priced at a moderate multiple of its earnings? Measure: the group's P/E on three years' earnings. The fund's holdings read as one company, as Graham read the Dow: earnings, book value, current assets and liabilities and debt summed on the share of each company the fund's dollar owns. The group's price over its average earnings of the last three fiscal years. Null where under 70% of the fund's weight is measured, or where the group's three years' earnings are not positive. Supports where the group's P/E on three years' earnings at or below 15x and the group's three years' earnings positive equal to true. Challenges where (the group's P/E on three years' earnings above 15x or the group's three years' earnings positive equal to false) and (the group's P/E on seven years' earnings above 25x or the group's seven years' earnings positive equal to false or the group's P/E on twelve months' earnings above 20x or the group's twelve months' earnings positive equal to false). Mixed between. Threshold: the investor’s own figure (Benjamin Graham, The Intelligent Investor (HarperBusiness, revised edition, updated with new commentary by Jason Zweig, 2003; its chapter text is Graham's 1973 fourth revised edition, and pages are cited from it, 2003), ch. 14, p. 349; Benjamin Graham, The Intelligent Investor (HarperBusiness, revised edition, updated with new commentary by Jason Zweig, 2003; its chapter text is Graham's 1973 fourth revised edition, and pages are cited from it, 2003), ch. 5, rule 4, p. 115). Both lines are Graham's own, each written for one company; reading them on the fund as one company is ETFIQ's, as for all seven tests. The seat Supports only at 15 times average earnings of the last three years or less (ch. 14). Above it, the group reads Mixed while it stays within his outer limit for the defensive investor, 25 times average earnings of the last seven years and 20 times the last twelve months' (ch. 5), and Challenges beyond either. Within the limit is never a pass, and where either outer figure is unread a group above 15 is Not enough data. Printed with: the group's P/E on seven years' earnings: The fund's holdings read as one company, as Graham read the Dow: earnings summed on the share of each company the fund's dollar owns. The group's price over its average earnings of the last seven fiscal years. Null where under 70% of the fund's weight is measured, or where the group's seven years' earnings are not positive.; the group's P/E on twelve months' earnings: The fund's holdings read as one company, as Graham read the Dow: earnings summed on the share of each company the fund's dollar owns. The group's price over its earnings of the last twelve months. Null where under 70% of the fund's weight is measured, or where the group's earnings over the twelve months are not positive. Weight: 20%; required; a Challenge here makes the seat Challenge. Sourced to: Benjamin Graham, The Intelligent Investor (HarperBusiness, revised edition, updated with new commentary by Jason Zweig, 2003; its chapter text is Graham's 1973 fourth revised edition, and pages are cited from it, 2003), ch. 14, p. 349; Benjamin Graham, The Intelligent Investor (HarperBusiness, revised edition, updated with new commentary by Jason Zweig, 2003; its chapter text is Graham's 1973 fourth revised edition, and pages are cited from it, 2003), ch. 5, rule 4, p. 115. Research, context, not a test of the measure: Henry R. Oppenheimer (1984), A Test of Ben Graham's Stock Selection Criteria, Financial Analysts Journal 40(5), 68-74. Tests the earnings-yield and debt screen from Graham's last interviews, not the seven defensive tests. Research, weakens the measure: Dwi Kartikasari (2016), A Test of Graham's and Lynch's Stock Screening Criteria on Shares Traded on the Indonesian Stock Exchange (IDX), Journal of Indonesian Economy and Business 31(1), 22-38. The one study of the defensive tests themselves: held strictly, they leave almost nothing to own.
Is the fund, read as one company, priced at a moderate multiple of its book value? Measure: the group's P/B. The fund's holdings read as one company, as Graham read the Dow: earnings, book value, current assets and liabilities and debt summed on the share of each company the fund's dollar owns. The group's price over its book value. Null where under 70% of the fund's weight is measured. Supports where the group's P/B at or below 1.5x or (the group's P/E times P/B read equal to true and the group's P/E times P/B at or below 22.5x). Challenges where the group's P/B above 1.575x and (the group's P/E times P/B read equal to false or the group's P/E times P/B above 23.625x). Mixed between. Threshold: Supports: the investor’s own figure (Benjamin Graham, The Intelligent Investor (HarperBusiness, revised edition, updated with new commentary by Jason Zweig, 2003; its chapter text is Graham's 1973 fourth revised edition, and pages are cited from it, 2003), ch. 14, p. 349); Challenges: ETFIQ’s reading. Graham's line is 1.5 times book value, or a P/E times P/B of 22.5, and the seat Supports only within it. The product is the group's own P/E times its own P/B. Graham gave no looser line, so the band is ETFIQ's and narrow: 5% of each line, for the months between the book value filed and the price. Beyond both bands the seat Challenges. Printed with: the group's P/E times P/B: The fund's holdings read as one company, as Graham read the Dow: earnings, book value, current assets and liabilities and debt summed on the share of each company the fund's dollar owns. The group's P/E on three years' earnings times its P/B. Null where either is null. Weight: 20%; required; a Challenge here makes the seat Challenge. Sourced to: Benjamin Graham, The Intelligent Investor (HarperBusiness, revised edition, updated with new commentary by Jason Zweig, 2003; its chapter text is Graham's 1973 fourth revised edition, and pages are cited from it, 2003), ch. 14, p. 349. Research, context, not a test of the measure: Henry R. Oppenheimer (1986), Ben Graham's Net Current Asset Values: A Performance Update, Financial Analysts Journal 42(6), 40-47. Tests net current asset value, not this test. Research, context, not a test of the measure: Joseph D. Vu (1988), An Empirical Analysis of Ben Graham's Net Current Asset Value Rule, Financial Review 23(2), 215-225. Tests net current asset value, not this test. Research, context, not a test of the measure: Ying Xiao and Glen Arnold (2008), Testing Benjamin Graham's Net Current Asset Value Strategy in London, The Journal of Investing 17(4), 11-19. Tests net current asset value, not this test.
Are the companies large enough to have weathered bad years? Measure: adequate size. Whether the fund's weighted median holding has annual sales of at least $750 million (Graham's $100 million of 1972, raised by CPI-U: ETFIQ's conversion). Null where under 70% of the weight is measured. Supports where adequate size equal to true. Challenges where adequate size equal to false. Threshold: ETFIQ’s figure, because the investor published none. Graham's $100 million of annual sales in 1972 is $750 million in 2024 dollars by the CPI-U, ETFIQ's conversion; reading it on the weighted median holding is ETFIQ's reading of a test he states company by company. Weight: 12%. Sourced to: Benjamin Graham, The Intelligent Investor (HarperBusiness, revised edition, updated with new commentary by Jason Zweig, 2003; its chapter text is Graham's 1973 fourth revised edition, and pages are cited from it, 2003), ch. 14, p. 348. Research: none cited; the criterion rests on the source alone.
Do the companies, taken together, carry more short-term assets than short-term debts, and little long-term debt? Measure: financial condition. The fund's holdings read as one company, as Graham read the Dow: earnings, book value, current assets and liabilities and debt summed on the share of each company the fund's dollar owns. Whether the group's industrial companies have current assets at least twice their current liabilities and long-term debt within net current assets, and its utilities debt within twice their equity. Financial companies are left out, as Graham sets them no such test. Null where under 70% of the rest of the weight is measured. Supports where financial condition equal to true. Challenges where financial condition equal to false. Threshold: ETFIQ’s figure, because the investor published none. Graham's company lines are his: current assets at least twice current liabilities and long-term debt within net current assets for an industrial company, debt within twice equity for a utility. Reading them as a number on the group is ETFIQ's, where he judged the Dow's condition adequate in the aggregate in words (p. 350). Financial companies are left out, as he sets them no such test, the soundness he calls more relevant there being assured, he writes, by regulation and supervision (pp. 360-361), and where they carry half the fund's weight or more the test does not apply to the fund at all (ETFIQ's line): the other tests decide. Weight: 12%. Applies to: the share in financial companies below 50%. Sourced to: Benjamin Graham, The Intelligent Investor (HarperBusiness, revised edition, updated with new commentary by Jason Zweig, 2003; its chapter text is Graham's 1973 fourth revised edition, and pages are cited from it, 2003), ch. 14, p. 348; Benjamin Graham, The Intelligent Investor (HarperBusiness, revised edition, updated with new commentary by Jason Zweig, 2003; its chapter text is Graham's 1973 fourth revised edition, and pages are cited from it, 2003), ch. 14, p. 360. Research, context, not a test of the measure: Joseph D. Piotroski (2000), Value Investing: The Use of Historical Financial Statement Information to Separate Winners from Losers, Journal of Accounting Research 38, 1-41. Tests the F-score, not this test.
Did the companies, taken together, earn a profit in every one of the last ten years? Measure: ten years of earnings. The fund's holdings read as one company, as Graham read the Dow: earnings, book value, current assets and liabilities and debt summed on the share of each company the fund's dollar owns. Whether the group's earnings were positive in each of its last ten fiscal years. Null where under 70% of the weight is measured. Supports where ten years of earnings equal to true. Challenges where ten years of earnings equal to false. Threshold: the investor’s own figure (Benjamin Graham, The Intelligent Investor (HarperBusiness, revised edition, updated with new commentary by Jason Zweig, 2003; its chapter text is Graham's 1973 fourth revised edition, and pages are cited from it, 2003), ch. 14, p. 348). Some earnings in each of the past ten years, Graham's own, read on the group's earnings. Weight: 12%. Sourced to: Benjamin Graham, The Intelligent Investor (HarperBusiness, revised edition, updated with new commentary by Jason Zweig, 2003; its chapter text is Graham's 1973 fourth revised edition, and pages are cited from it, 2003), ch. 14, p. 348. Research: none cited; the criterion rests on the source alone.
Have the companies paid a dividend every year for twenty years? Measure: twenty years of dividends. True where companies with a dividend in each of the last 20 years carry half the fund's weight or more; false where companies with a year without one do; null otherwise, since a record that simply ends is neither. Supports where twenty years of dividends equal to true. Challenges where twenty years of dividends equal to false. Threshold: ETFIQ’s figure, because the investor published none. Uninterrupted dividends for at least 20 years is Graham's line for a company. Reading it on the fund as the share of weight with twenty years against the share with a year without one, half the weight deciding, is ETFIQ's; a record that simply ends is neither. Weight: 12%. Sourced to: Benjamin Graham, The Intelligent Investor (HarperBusiness, revised edition, updated with new commentary by Jason Zweig, 2003; its chapter text is Graham's 1973 fourth revised edition, and pages are cited from it, 2003), ch. 14, p. 348. Research: none cited; the criterion rests on the source alone.
Did the companies, taken together, grow their earnings by a third over ten years? Measure: earnings up a third in ten years. The fund's holdings read as one company, as Graham read the Dow: earnings, book value, current assets and liabilities and debt summed on the share of each company the fund's dollar owns. Whether the group's three-year average earnings per share, on today's shares, rose by at least a third over ten years. Null where under 70% of the weight is measured. Supports where earnings up a third in ten years equal to true. Challenges where earnings up a third in ten years equal to false. Threshold: the investor’s own figure (Benjamin Graham, The Intelligent Investor (HarperBusiness, revised edition, updated with new commentary by Jason Zweig, 2003; its chapter text is Graham's 1973 fourth revised edition, and pages are cited from it, 2003), ch. 14, p. 348). Earnings per share up by at least a third over ten years, on three-year averages at each end, Graham's own, read on the group. Weight: 12%. Sourced to: Benjamin Graham, The Intelligent Investor (HarperBusiness, revised edition, updated with new commentary by Jason Zweig, 2003; its chapter text is Graham's 1973 fourth revised edition, and pages are cited from it, 2003), ch. 14, p. 348. Research: none cited; the criterion rests on the source alone.
Each criterion reads one ETFIQ measure against two thresholds. The seven tests are read on the fund as one company, and the state follows Graham, who asked for all seven: a price test beyond its band Challenges; a price test that cannot be read leaves the seat Not enough data; a test read and failed, or a price within its band, makes it Mixed, since no reading of the rest could change that; a test that applies still unread then leaves it Not enough data; all that apply met Supports. Financial condition does not apply to a fund half or more in financial companies, which Graham sets no such test. The weights. The state does not weigh the tests. A price test beyond its band Challenges, and a price test that cannot be read leaves the seat Not enough data; any other test read and failed makes it Mixed, since Graham asked for all seven; it Supports only on all seven met. The weights, 20% for each price test and 12% for each of the other five, order funds within a state only.
What this cannot tell you
How to check any of this
This seat’s criteria, thresholds, weights and cases are in the committee file, the same file the committee reads.
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