Cash from Discontinued Investing Activities in Excel

The hf_cash_from_disc_investing_activities function (fn_01289) allows you to retrieve a company's "Cash from Discontinued Investing Activities" directly in Excel through MarketXLS. By simply specifying a ticker symbol, year, quarter, and optionally requesting trailing twelve months (TTM) data, you can quickly analyze how much cash was involved in any discontinued portions of a company’s investing activities. This is especially useful for investors or analysts looking to isolate the cash flows related to unique, one-time transactions (e.g., divestitures or spinning off certain business segments).

Why Use This Function?

• Efficient Data Retrieval: Automatically fetch up-to-date "Cash from Discontinued Investing Activities" values from MarketXLS’ data feeds without manually downloading statements.
• Enhanced Accuracy: By focusing solely on discontinued operations, it provides more clarity on core operating performance vs. one-time or non-recurring transactions.
• Quick Historical Tracking: Retrieve annual or quarterly data to spot trends over specific periods.
• Optional TTM Analysis: Gain broader insight into how these cash flows shape up over a rolling 12-month period.
• Rapid Decision Making: Perfect for in-depth comparative valuation or forensic accounting, helping you remove noise from your fundamental analysis.

How to Use in Excel

=hf_cash_from_disc_investing_activities(Symbol, Year, [Quarter], [TTM])

1. Type “=hf_cash_from_disc_investing_activities” into a cell.
2. Enter the ticker symbol in quotes (e.g., "AAPL").
3. Provide the desired fiscal year (e.g., "2022").
4. Optionally include a quarter parameter ("1", "2", "3", or "4").
   • If omitted or left blank, it defaults to "2".
5. Optionally specify "TTM" to retrieve trailing twelve months data.

Press enter, and MarketXLS will query the fundamental data and return the numeric result or "NA" if data isn’t available or the symbol is invalid.

Parameters Explained

Example Usage

Basic Examples

1. Retrieve Data for Q3 of 2022 for Apple (AAPL):
   =hf_cash_from_disc_investing_activities("AAPL", "2022", "3")
   This returns Apple’s “Cash from Discontinued Investing Activities” for the specified period if available.

2. Retrieve Annual Data for Microsoft (MSFT) in 2021 (defaults to Q2 if quarter is blank):
   =hf_cash_from_disc_investing_activities("MSFT", "2021")
   The function sets the quarter internally to "2" and returns the Q2 2021 result.

Advanced Scenarios

1. Trailing 12 Months (TTM) for Tesla (TSLA):
   =hf_cash_from_disc_investing_activities("TSLA", "2022", "1", "TTM")
   Here, the function aggregates the last four quarters of Tesla’s discontinued investing activities for a rolling total. If any quarter’s data is missing, you may see "NA".

2. Year-Over-Year Comparison
   You can place multiple hf_cash_from_disc_investing_activities formulas side by side to compare 2021 vs. 2022 data for the same symbol. For example:

   • Cell A1: =hf_cash_from_disc_investing_activities("AAPL", "2021")
   • Cell B1: =hf_cash_from_disc_investing_activities("AAPL", "2022")
     This allows you to quickly spot changes in discontinued investing cash flows over consecutive years or quarters.

3. Integration with Other Formulas
   Combine the returned values with other Excel functions (e.g., a sum of different cash flow components or a ratio compared to a revenue figure from another cell).

Common Questions and Troubleshooting

1. Why Do I Get “NA”?

   • Invalid Ticker: Ensure you've spelled the ticker symbol correctly.
   • Missing Data: Not all companies report discontinued operations or details for every quarter.
   • License Issues: If your MarketXLS plan doesn’t support this function, or your license is invalid, the function may display “NA” or another message.

2. What Happens If I Don’t Specify a Quarter?

   • The add-in defaults to "Quarter = 2" internally (Q2). If you need a different quarter, explicitly specify it.

3. Can This Function Return Non-Numeric Values?

   • In most cases, you should see a numeric result. However, if your data is refreshing or unavailable, you may see a temporary status label (e.g., “Refreshing”) or "NA".

4. Are Historical or Future Quarters Supported?

   • The function primarily returns historical data. If you pass a year-quarter combination that hasn’t yet been reported, the function will return “NA.”

By using hf_cash_from_disc_investing_activities (fn_01289) in MarketXLS, you can efficiently isolate and examine "Cash from Discontinued Investing Activities," an often overlooked but informative line item that can enhance your fundamental or forensic analysis in Excel. Leverage quarterly or annual data, or even TTM if you need a rolling perspective, for more meaningful insight into a company’s overall cash flow trends.