VectorVest features two ways of representing stock price: Price-(Actual) and Price-(Split Adjusted).
Price-(Actual) represents the ”r;actual trading price” of a stock, both historically and currently, and is not affected by stock splits.
Price-(Split Adjusted) represents the stock price after being adjusted for splits.
Example: XYZ has been steadily trading at $50.00 per share. Today XYZ has a 2 for 1 stock split. After the split, Price-(Split Adjusted) and Price-(Actual) will show the price for XYZ at $25.00, but on the day prior to the split, Price-(Split Adjusted) will now show a price of $25.00 and Price-(Actual) will still show a price of $50.00.
From the most recent stock split, and forward to the current date, Price-Actual and Price-(Split Adjusted) are equivalent. However, from the most recent stock split, and backward through time, Price-(Split Adjusted) is scaled by a factor related to the multiplication of each successive stock split.
Assuming that a stock has split 3 times over its trading history, here is an example of how the Split Adjusted Price would be calculated:
Split Date Split Factor
9/1/04 4-for-1
8/1/03 3-for-1
7/1/02 2-for-1
Date Range Adjustment Factor
9/1/04 to current 01 = (there are no splits after 9/1/04)
8/1/03 to 9/1/04 04 = (due to 4-for-1)
7/1/02 to 8/1/03 12 = (due to 4-for-1 and 3-for-1)
Before 7/1/02 24 = (due to 4-for-1, 3-for-1, and 2-for-1)
Using the above adjustment factors, Price-(Split Adjusted) can be calculated as (Price-Actual) / (Adjustment Factor) for each Date Range.
Care should be exercised when utilizing these parameters in strategies and sorts. When constructing a strategy that makes use of the relative change of Price over some time period (e.g. Deltas, Trends, New Highs, New Lows, etc.), the split-adjusted price should be used since there will be no price spikes at split dates which could cause inaccurate results. However, when we are interested in a stock’s price on a specific date, the actual price should be used (e.g. finding stocks less than $5.00 on a historical date). For a strategy sort such as VST/Price, the actual price should be used.