FAQ
What is Altimetry?
Altimetry is a boutique financial research and publishing firm providing individual investors with unique, unbiased investment recommendations. As the consumer arm of Valens Research, we leverage the same underlying datasets, investment philosophy, and strategies.
Primarily, we are guided by the knowledge that U.S. accounting guidelines – which American public companies are forced to follow – obscure the true results of a company's profitability, misleading investors.
Warren Buffett: "The net earnings figure... is not representative of the business at all."
Forbes: "Why GAAP Accounting Rules May Be Damaging to Investors."
Billionaire hedge-fund manager Seth Klarman: "Analysis of reported earnings can mislead investors as to the real profitability of a business."
Instead of analyzing financial statements, we deconstruct them and reassemble them using our own Uniform Adjusted Financial Reporting Standards (UAFRS) – or Uniform Accounting, for short. This process shows us the true picture of a company's potential.
Then we combine Uniform Accounting with additional audio forensics analysis to consistently find mispriced companies poised for massive growth, which we detail for our subscribers.
Is Altimetry a good research service for an investor who is still growing and learning?
No... it's a GREAT research service for novice investors. In our research products, we provide everything you need to know about the underlying recommendations – including how much to pay for the stock, when to get out of your position if the trade goes against us as well as the full details on why we are recommending the company based on our unique analysis.
What is the difference between the data used for Altimetry and Valens Research?
Altimetry was designed for individual investors and smaller family offices. Valens Research is for institutional Investors. The data sources are the same. However, Altimetry provides data we feel is the most important for individual investors. While Valens provides its clients with substantially more information going back longer time periods.
Also, many of Valens' institutional clients use our data for custom work and our UAFRS company database. For those investors, they aren't so much interested in our particular stock ideas as they are in seeing what our analysis looks like on THEIR stock ideas or their investment themes.
What is the track record for Altimetry?
Altimetry launched in September of 2019 and thus, we don't have a track record of Altimetry stock recommendations. However, Altimetry is powered by Valens Research forensic tools and analytics and so we are happy to share those with you from two perspectives used and reviewed by instructional investors clients of Valens Research:
The Valens Research USA "Quality, Growth, Value" QGV portfolio is tested back 20-plus years. It is one of the main sources of Altimetry stock recommendations. However, Altimetry adds DEF 14A analysis, Earnings Call Forensics, and other fundamental research tools to reach our monthly stock recommendations. Performance of that has been 15.6% a year versus 6.8% a year for the S&P 500 over the same period
Valens Research also produces a weekly Long Idea List, highlighting one of our conviction long-idea list names. These are names where we're overlaying all our fundamental research tools listed above, along with our Uniform Accounting signals. Valens has been producing this report since April 2016.
The average quarterly performance of these names was 5.4% for the three months after the initial recommendation, versus 3.1% for the S&P 500 if held over the same period. That annualizes to a 23.4% return for those ideas, versus a 13.0% return for the market.
I am new to Altimetry. Where should I start?
If you'd like to learn more about Altimetry and who we are, please visit our About page.
The Altimetry Daily Authority archive allows you to search for and read through past issues. It includes our latest commentary on the markets, which stocks have upside potential, and what we learn from our forensic analysis of company earnings. You can sign up here to receive complimentary access.
If you have a question or concern, please reach out to our college-educated customer service team for assistance at (800) 701-9346, or internationally at (617) 229-6511.
How can I access my Altimetry subscription content?
To access your subscription materials, log in by clicking the "Subscriber Login" button located in the upper-right corner of the Altimetry website.
After clicking, you will need to enter the e-mail address and password associated with your account. Once you're logged in, you'll be taken to the subscribers-only portion of the Altimetry website
My login information isn't working. What should I do?
If your e-mail address and password combination isn't working, click the "Forgot Password?" link, which will prompt you to reset your password. If you still can't log in after that, please call our customer service team at (800) 701-9346, or internationally at (617) 229-6511, Monday through Friday between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Eastern time.
Can you answer my question about an individual stock?
We're prohibited from offering individual investment advice. Because Altimetry is a financial publishing company, our newsletters and research are meant to make you aware of investment opportunities we've identified.
What is an 'Altimetry.com' charge?
An "Altimetry.com" charge on your credit-card statement relates to an Altimetry newsletter subscription or product.
What is the difference between Hidden Alpha and High Alpha?
Both publications are monthly stock advisories using our proprietary uniform accounting datasets and grading methodology. Hidden Alpha is focused on finding and recommending safer, larger stocks that still have enough upside to double your money or more. You can feel more comfortable investing more of your portfolio and taking larger positions in these recommendations.
High Alpha is focused on more explosive smaller cap stocks that you probably haven't heard of or haven't considered investing in. Our goal with High Alpha is to find stocks that can skyrocket 500% to 1,000%. By definition, these stocks will have a higher volatility (more risk) than the stocks recommended in Hidden Alpha.