Easily Retrieve a Company's Shares Outstanding

The QM_SharesOutstanding function in MarketXLS provides a convenient way to retrieve a company’s total shares outstanding directly in Excel, allowing you to compare, track, and analyze this important piece of market data without leaving your spreadsheet. Whether you’re an active trader, a long-term investor, or just evaluating a company’s fundamentals, this function saves time and simplifies your workflow by pulling real-time or recent data from the QuoteMedia service.

Why Use This Function?

• Quickly see how many shares a company has issued and is circulating in the market.
• Compare different companies’ shares outstanding to gauge relative size or make ratio analysis more accurate.
• Refresh the data on-demand whenever you need the latest information.
• Integrate with other Excel formulas and market data to build more powerful analytical models.
• Reduce manual data entry or reliance on external websites, streamlining your research workflow.

How to Use in Excel

=QM_SharesOutstanding("symbol")

1. Open Excel with the MarketXLS add-in installed.
2. Choose a cell where you want your Shares Outstanding value to appear.
3. Type =QM_SharesOutstanding("symbol"), replacing "symbol" with a valid ticker (e.g., "AAPL").
4. Press Enter to retrieve and display the company’s outstanding shares.

Data is fetched from QuoteMedia. Depending on your MarketXLS license and the data refresh status, the function may initially display “Refreshing,” “NA,” or “Please Refresh.” Once data is ready, it shows the most recent shares outstanding information.

Parameters Explained

• The function supports one parameter: – the company’s stock ticker symbol.
• Make sure you enter a valid symbol recognized by the data source.
• If the symbol is invalid or the data cannot be retrieved, the function may return “NA.”

Example Usage

Basic Examples

1. Retrieve Shares Outstanding for Apple: =QM_SharesOutstanding("AAPL")
   ? Returns Apple’s outstanding share count.

2. Compare Shares Outstanding for Multiple Companies side-by-side:
   A1: =QM_SharesOutstanding("AAPL")
   B1: =QM_SharesOutstanding("MSFT")
   C1: =QM_SharesOutstanding("GOOG")
   ? Quickly scan the respective share counts in adjacent cells.

3. Pull Data for a Less Common Symbol:
   =QM_SharesOutstanding("TSLA")
   ? If recognized by QuoteMedia, displays Tesla’s outstanding shares; otherwise may show “NA.”

Advanced Scenarios

1. Integrating with Other Financial Ratios
   Combine shares outstanding with EPS to calculate total net income:
   A1: =QM_SharesOutstanding("XYZ")
   B1: =QM_EPS("XYZ") (example function placeholder)
   C1: =A1*B1
   ? Estimate total net income for XYZ based on the outstanding shares and EPS.

2. Automating Refreshes
   If you schedule MarketXLS to refresh periodically—when the add-in performs a global data refresh—the function may temporarily show “Refreshing.” Once the refresh completes, the up-to-date share count appears automatically.

3. Rapidly Screening Multiple Symbols
   Keep a dynamic list of symbols in one column and apply QM_SharesOutstanding to each symbol in the adjacent column. Sort or filter to compare share counts across dozens of companies at once.

Common Questions and Troubleshooting

1. Why is the function returning “NA”?

   • It could be an invalid symbol, or the data doesn’t exist for that particular ticker. Check you have the correct symbol (e.g., “AAPL” instead of “APPLE”).

2. Why do I see “Refreshing”?

   • Data is being pulled from the QuoteMedia service. Once the refresh is complete, the actual share count will appear. If it remains “Refreshing,” verify your internet connection and MarketXLS settings.

3. The function displays “Please Refresh.” What should I do?

   • This means the data hasn’t been requested or configured yet. Initiate a data refresh in MarketXLS, or ensure your subscription is active.

4. Can this function handle international symbols?

   • QM_SharesOutstanding typically supports US exchanges. Check if your subscription includes international coverage. If a symbol isn’t recognized, the function may return “NA.”

5. Why am I seeing “ERR”?

   • This most likely indicates an unexpected error. Check your ribbon settings in MarketXLS, ensure your MarketXLS license is valid, and retry.

By leveraging QM_SharesOutstanding in Excel, MarketXLS users can instantly access data on a company’s capital structure—strengthening analysis, improving efficiency, and paving the way for more sophisticated trading strategies. Make your spreadsheet a one-stop solution for monitoring and evaluating shares outstanding without ever switching tools!