The Chaikin Power Gauge Rating is a color-coded rating for stocks and ETFs that shows whether a symbol is likely to outperform or underperform the market. The model has been independently back-tested and has delivered consistent results since it launched in 2011, and you can look it up for any rated stock or ETF by typing its ticker or company name into the search bar at the top of the Chaikin Analytics site.

There are two types of Power Gauge ratings – Stock Ratings and ETF ratings. Each serves a different purpose, but both are built to help you quickly assess potential strength or weakness.

📊 What Is the Power Gauge Rating?

The Power Gauge Rating is the backbone of Chaikin Analytics. For stocks, it combines 20 factors into one rating that reflects a stock's likely direction over the next 1 to 6 months.

The stock rating draws on four categories:

• Financials: balance sheet and valuation strength
• Earnings: earnings surprises, trends, and revisions
• Technicals: price trends and strength
• Experts: analyst ratings, short interest, and insider activity

Each factor is weighted and combined to produce a daily rating for every stock with at least one year of trading history and consistent earnings data.
 

❓How are ETF ratings different from stock ratings?

ETFs get their own Power Gauge Rating. It looks at the ETF's price strength and at the Power Gauge Ratings of the stocks the ETF holds. To learn more about how each rating is built, see How the Power Gauge Rating Is Calculated for Stocks and How the Power Gauge Rating Is Calculated for ETFs.

🎯 What Do the Ratings Mean?

Stocks and ETFs are rated on the same five-point scale:

• Very Bullish: likely to outperform
• Bullish
• Neutral
• Bearish
• Very Bearish: likely to underperform

You may also see Neutral+ or Neutral-. Neutral+ is a Bullish stock that has fallen below its long-term trend, and Neutral- is a Bearish stock that has risen above it. See What do Neutral+ and Neutral- mean? for details.

Stock ratings are recalculated every weekday with fresh market data. ETF ratings follow their own schedule, explained in How the Power Gauge Rating Is Calculated for ETFs.

🔎 Where Do I Find a Stock or ETF's Rating?

1. Log in at members.chaikinanalytics.com.
2. Click the search bar at the top of the page (it reads Search article, company, symbol, analyst).
3. Type the ticker symbol or the company name – either will work! 
4. Under Search Results, click the matching result. Results marked S are stocks and results marked E are ETFs.

The symbol's Power Gauge Rating page opens, with the overall rating at the top right. For stocks, the Financials, Earnings, Technicals, and Experts bars sit under it.

You can also click Power Gauge Rating in the top navigation bar and use the Search Symbol box on the left side of the page. For a full tour of what's on that page, see How to Use the Power Gauge Rating Page to Check a Stock or ETF. For ETF-specific details like the Power Bar, see The ETF Page.

💡 Tip: Ticker lookups happen on the Chaikin Analytics platform, not in this Help Center. If you searched for a ticker here and got no results, use the search bar on the platform instead.

❓ Why Doesn't My Stock or ETF Have a Rating?

Some symbols aren't rated. That's expected, not an error: the model needs enough history and reliable data to produce a rating. In search results, an unrated symbol shows a gray gauge instead of a colored one.

A stock may not have a rating if it:

• Has less than one year of trading history. Recent IPOs aren't rated until they have a full year of trading data.
• Doesn't have consistent earnings data. The stock model needs reported earnings to score the stock.
• Trades over the counter (OTC). OTC stocks are usually less liquid and less widely covered, which makes them harder to assess.
• Is a foreign stock. Some foreign stocks aren't rated because we do not have sufficient data on them.
• Is missing financial or market data. If we can't obtain the data the model needs, the stock won't get a rating.

ETFs don't get a stock rating; they're rated with the separate ETF model. A new ETF gets its rating after 120 trading days, and some types of ETFs aren't rated. See How the Power Gauge Rating Is Calculated for ETFs for which ETFs are covered.

🧭 How Do I Use the Power Gauge Rating?

The Power Gauge helps investors quickly assess the outlook of a stock. Here’s how it’s commonly used:

• Bullish or Very Bullish stocks: consider as potential buys or holds
• Bearish or Very Bearish stocks: may signal stocks to avoid, reduce, or watch closely

You don’t need to rely on the Power Gauge alone. It works best when used with other Chaikin tools, such as:

• Chaikin Money Flow and Money Flow Persistency: shows buying or selling pressure
• Relative Strength: compares the stock to the market
• Overbought/Oversold: helps with timing your trading

Any investment decision also depends on your own financial goals.

💡 Tip: To learn how to read these indicators, see How to Read a Chaikin Chart and Spotting Bullish Opportunities with the Pre-Trade Checklist. For warning signs, see Detecting Stock Warnings Using the Power Gauge.