Data Sources
All financial data on Billiver comes from official, public sources.
SEC EDGAR
Financial metrics are sourced from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's EDGAR database. This includes data from 10-K (annual) and 10-Q (quarterly) filings.
Metrics from SEC EDGAR:
- Revenue
- Net Income
- Total Assets
- Total Liabilities
- Shareholders' Equity
- Dividends Per Share
- ROE (calculated)
- ROA (calculated)
- Profit Margin (calculated)
- Debt/Equity (calculated)
Source: sec.gov/edgar
Wikipedia
Company descriptions are sourced from Wikipedia under the CC BY-SA license.
Information from Wikipedia:
- Company descriptions
- Founding year
- Headquarters location
- Key products/services
Company Direction Signals
Some company pages include reviewed direction signals. Official facts come from public filings and company materials. Market attention is treated separately and may use public metadata, licensed or permitted aggregate signals, and anonymized Billiver product activity.
How these signals are shown:
- Official facts and market attention are labeled separately.
- Narrative signals are treated as context, not as verified company facts.
- Raw social posts, community comments, and article bodies are not displayed.
Company Direction signals are for research context only. They are not buy, sell, or hold recommendations.
Data Quality Process
We take data accuracy seriously. Every metric on Billiver goes through multiple verification steps before being displayed to you.
Source Verification
All data comes directly from official SEC EDGAR filings (10-K, 10-Q, 13F, Form 4). We never estimate, predict, or extrapolate financial metrics. If a data point isn't in the official filing, we don't show it.
Cross-Validation
Calculated metrics (like ROE, profit margin) are cross-checked against source data. For example:
- •ROE = Net Income / Equity must match ±1% with any ROE reported in filings
- •Profit Margin calculation verified against reported operating margins
Anomaly Detection
Statistical checks catch potential data errors before they reach you:
- •If more than 10% of companies show losses, it indicates a parsing bug
- •Metrics outside normal ranges (e.g., 200% profit margin) trigger review
- •Missing expected companies (like Coca-Cola) halt deployment
Handling Edge Cases
Some financial situations require special handling. We handle these transparently:
- •Negative equity: We don't calculate ROE when equity is negative (affects ~50 companies like Boeing, Starbucks) because the math becomes misleading
- •Recent M&A: Companies flagged under review after acquisitions or spin-offs until data stabilizes
- •One-time items: GAAP figures include restructuring charges and tax adjustments that can distort margins
Our Rule: If data fails any verification step, we don't display it. You'll never see a metric we aren't confident about. An empty field is better than wrong information.
Want to see how real bugs shaped our data standards? Read our Editorial Policy for specific cases we caught and the rules they created.
Data Freshness & Update Schedule
We maintain regular data updates to ensure timeliness. Here is our current update cadence:
| Data Type | Update Frequency |
|---|---|
| Annual Financials (10-K) | Within 30 days of SEC filing publication |
| Institutional Holdings (13F) | Quarterly, within 2 weeks of filing deadline |
| Insider Trading (Form 4) | Within 48 hours of SEC filing |
| Financial Scores (Piotroski, Altman, etc.) | Recalculated with each new 10-K filing |
| Company Profiles | Reviewed periodically for accuracy |
Note: SEC filings have inherent reporting delays. Companies have 60 days after fiscal year-end to file their 10-K, and institutional investors have 45 days after quarter-end to file 13F reports.
Dividend Safety Grade
Our Dividend Safety Grade assesses whether a company can sustain and grow its dividend. It combines two metrics calculated from the most recent annual SEC EDGAR filing (10-K):
Payout Ratio
Total Dividends Paid / Net Income
Measures what percentage of earnings is distributed as dividends. Lower values indicate more room to sustain or increase dividends.
Free Cash Flow Coverage
Free Cash Flow / Total Dividends Paid
Measures how many times free cash flow covers dividend payments. Higher values indicate the dividend is well-supported by actual cash generation.
Grade Scale
| Grade | Label | Payout Ratio | FCF Coverage |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | Very Safe | <50% | >1.5x |
| B | Safe | <65% | >1.2x |
| C | Moderate | <80% | >1.0x |
| D | At Risk | >80% | <1.0x |
Grade A (Very Safe): Both conditions must be met — Payout Ratio below 50% AND FCF Coverage above 1.5x. These companies generate ample cash to cover dividends with a wide margin of safety.
Grade B (Safe): Both conditions must be met — Payout Ratio below 65% AND FCF Coverage above 1.2x. Dividends are well-supported but with less cushion than Grade A.
Grade C (Moderate): Either Payout Ratio below 80% OR FCF Coverage above 1.0x. The dividend is currently being paid but with limited margin for error.
Grade D (At Risk): Both conditions — Payout Ratio above 80% AND FCF Coverage below 1.0x. The company is paying out more than it earns in cash, which may not be sustainable long-term.
N/A: Insufficient data available from SEC EDGAR filings to calculate either metric. This typically occurs for financial-sector companies where standard payout calculations may not apply.
Safety Grades are used on our Dividend Kings page. Grades are recalculated when new annual filings (10-K) become available.
Data We Don't Provide
The following require real-time stock price data, which we don't currently have:
- -Market Cap (requires current stock price)
- -P/E Ratio (requires current stock price)
- -Dividend Yield (requires current stock price)