If I run the Stock Screener under Tools, I can download to Excel in two ways. I can either click on the "Download Excel Report" button, or I can right-click in the table and select "Export to Microsoft Excel" from the popup menu. In either case, Excel opens with the data in a blank sheet in a new workbook. So download from stockcentral to Excel is working fine for Screener results.

When I go to the data page for a stock such as AAPL, however, I can't seem to download. There is a link at the top for "Get SSG Data", but no "Export to Excel" link. If I right-click and select "Export to Microsoft Excel" from the popup, Excel reports "This Web query returned no data." If I try to start from within Excel by constructing a query, I get a few lines from the page, but not the AAPL financial data.

If I were unable to download the Screener results, I'd suspect a problem with my desktop computing environment (Excel 2007, IE 7.0, XP Pro, Norton Internet Security). But the download works just fine for the Screener. So I don't know what the problem is with the stock data. Perhaps Excel download is blocked on purpose, say because of contractual agreements with Hemscott?  Or am I just doing something wrong? Thanks.

Mike Carroll

Joe,

Well, those are useful as workarounds. But that doesn't answer my question. I can download data from Yahoo Finance to Excel, and I can download StockCentral Screener results to Excel. The data page for the individual stocks presents the data in "a useful format". Why can't I download that into Excel? Is IClubCentral worried that folks will stop buying the Toolkit, if they discover they can use Excel instead?

Do you really think it's a better solution to put the data in the Toolkit database first, and then use Excel to extract data from the Toolkit database? If so, why?

Mike

Mike:

At 09:51 PM 12/29/2007, you wrote:

Why can't I download that into Excel? Is IClubCentral worried that folks will stop buying the Toolkit, if they discover they can use Excel instead?

Do you really think it's a better solution to put the data in the Toolkit database first, and then use Excel to extract data from the Toolkit database? If so, why?

I'm afraid you have the cart before the horse, sir. These files were created expressly FOR the NAIC/Inve$tWare/ICLUBcentral software products to begin with and have been used in a wide variety of such products since the early '90s.

The data in those files is formatted for those software products and, when opened in Excel, produce a single column of 537 fields which, unless you have the file layout handy, are of relatively little value. Only recently has the data been served up in a fashion that could be readily accessed and imported into Excel to benefit people like you. And only recently have Excel templates that make use of those files been offered generously by people like Bob Adams and Jim Thomas to make sense out of them.

It occurs to me from the way you pose your questions that you might not be familiar with the methodology that gave birth to the software and the datafiles. If you choose to use Excel instead of the software products or templates, perhaps you're missing out on the best reason to access the data provided in those files: the methodology that was gifted to us by George Nicholson in the early '50s.

(Or maybe not. There would have been no Toolkit had I not started by entering the data in Excel and creating my own Stock Selection Guide 20 years ago. )

ET

Ellis,

That does not answer my original question either.

Mike

Mike,

These certainly are NOT workarounds.  This is by design.  And it is certainly not out of fear.  ICLUBcentral and its predecessors have been in the "SSG Software" business for quite a number of years and the SSG file has been the preferred method of distributing data.  Primarily, this data has been used as input to Investor's Toolkit, Classic, and Stock Analyst.  As Ellis out, the data is "intended" to be used with the particular form of stock analysis designed by George Nicholson and others and promoted by NAIC/BetterInvesting.

I'm guessing that you'd prefer to see the table of data presented on the Data page in Excel.  We haven't supported that direct option as yet, but we'll certainly consider doing something like that.  In fact, we use suggestions from our subscribers as a great source of ways to improve StockCentral.

In the meantime, there is a very easy way to get what you want:  simply cut and page the page into Excel.  Just highlight the table with your mouse, hit CTRL-C, and then open Excel and hit CTRL-V.  (This IS a workaround, in the sense that it lets you accomplish what you want to do.)

From the The Toolshed forum at StockCentral.com, Mike Carroll writes:

Ellis,

That does not answer my original question either.

Why can't I download that into Excel? Is IClubCentral worried that folks will stop buying the Toolkit, if they discover they can use Excel instead?

Do you really think it's a better solution to put the data in the Toolkit database first, and then use Excel to extract data from the Toolkit database? If so, why?

Perhaps Excel download is blocked on purpose, say because of contractual agreements with Hemscott?  Or am I just doing something wrong?

Alternatively, I can register at Hemscott.com for free. Their Accounts & Ratios page provides 5 years of fundamental data which I can retrieve via an Excel Web Query. No quarterly data, unfortunately. I will have to review why I'm using the Toolkit, and whether I should continue to pay for data for it. Thanks for your help.

Mike Carroll

If you're interested in doing an SSG style analysis, that's why you would use Toolkit.  And, it's entirely possible to do that inside of Excel.  As Ellis noted, his first product, back in the early 90's was an Excel spreadsheet that "did" an SSG.  It was only later that the SSG data file was standardized and several different software packages continue to use it today.

Besides Toolkit, there is Classic, Stock Analyst, Churr's software, the Intuitec software and, possible, others.

In any event, have a Happy New Year!

Also note that TK5 is more than just printing data. You have the PERT data, PMG, Portfolio Overview tools showing offense and defensive mgt. within the program, a library to set up different portfolios, a comparison guide, a challenge tool. Export and share data with other users. I'm adequate at excel  but will prefer TK. Not many want to take the time to build a workable worksheet, especially with the same parameters as another user.