The QAV Jargon
Over the years we’ve come up with a range of silly names for explaining certain kinds of investing scenarios. Here they are.
A Groundhog
A stock that briefly peaks its head above the buy line mid-month, only to fall back below the buy line at the end of the month. We don’t consider that a true buy.
A Schrodinger
A stock that is simultaneously a buy and a sell, meaning it is both above its buy line and below its sell line. We don’t touch these.
A Bunny Boiler
A stock that looks more risky than it’s worth. It might look sexy, but it’s also a little crazy, its chart going all over the place, too hard to work out a clear buy signal, so it’s best to avoid it altogether and buy something with less confusion.
A Falling Knife
A stock that has been falling for a long period of time. It occasionally breaches its buy line, only to drop back below it. Best to avoid these stocks until they demonstrate a clear trend. (Example.)
A Fudge
When the first point on a chart (eg the highest point or the lowest point) is about to drop off the chart in a week or a month, Tony will sometimes pretend it doesn’t exist and start with the next highest or lowest point, thereby fudging the chart.
A Tom Cruise
When you are really packing in the fudge, eg the point that you are fudging isn’t just a week or two away from dropping off the chart, it’s many months away, but you fudge it anyway.
Don’t Hit Me With Those Negative Waves
It really has nothing to do with anything, it’s just one of Tony’s favourite lines from one of his favourite films, Kelly’s Heroes.
The Halloween Pumpkin
A type of graph that looks like the smile of a Jack O Lantern. (Example.)
A Josephine
A stock that is above both its buy line and its sell line — therefore has positive sentiment — but whose price is in a current downtrend. This makes it a “wait and see”. It’s called a Josephine because of the old alleged saying of Napoleon “Not tonight, Josephine.”
2BL
The “Second Buy Line”. TK’s current theory on when it’s safe to buy a stock that was previously a Josephine. We draw a new buy line, taking the true H1 and drawing it through the latest H2. The stock has to breach that before it’s considered to have positive sentiment again.
The Brettalator
A handy tool for drawing 3PTL developed by Club member Brett Fischer.
3PTL
Three point trend line.
R1
Rule 1.
These aren’t part of the Bible’s jargon list above — they’re the core terms and metrics you’ll meet across the rest of the QAV Bible, gathered here for quick reference. Definitions of the scorecard internals live in full on the Checklist Walkthrough.
QAV — Quality At Value
The system, and its philosophy in three words: buy quality companies (well-run, genuinely cash-generative) but only at a sensible value (a discount to intrinsic worth). Rules-driven by design — the checklist decides, not gut feel.
QAV Score
The headline number for each stock: the checklist score divided by the Price-to-Operating-Cash-Flow ratio — quality per dollar of value. You stack-rank stocks on it to build the buy list.
PROPCAF (Price / Operating Cash Flow)
QAV’s central value metric — the share price divided by operating cash flow per share (the “Price / Cash Ratio”, checklist Column N). A low/cheap PROPCAF is the buy thesis; the threshold is 7.
Net Operating Cash Flow
The cash a business actually generates from operations. Tony treats it as more trustworthy than profit because it’s harder to massage. It’s the numerator behind PROPCAF.
NEPS — Net Equity Per Share (Book Value)
Net equity (total assets minus total liabilities) divided by shares on issue — how much equity you’re buying per share. QAV uses net equity including intangibles, not Net Tangible Assets.
Intrinsic Value (IV1 & IV2)
Two estimates of what a business is worth. IV1 is Tony’s shorthand (current EPS ÷ 0.195); IV2 uses forecast EPS and a market hurdle rate. Both are context cross-checks, not pass/fail gates.
Sentiment
Whether the market is supporting a stock’s price, judged with the three-point trend line. Positive sentiment is a go/no-go gate: QAV won’t buy a stock with negative sentiment no matter how cheap.
Star Stock
Stock Doctor’s rating flagging companies with strong performance and outlook — Gold (Growth), Green (Borderline), Purple (Income). QAV awards points for them.
Stock Rank / Quality Rank / F‑Score
Stockopedia ranks used as quality/value inputs for US and international markets. The F‑Score is Joseph Piotroski’s nine-point financial-health score. Inputs, not the whole story.
ADT — Average Daily Trade
The average dollar value of a stock traded each day — a liquidity check. Tony caps any single purchase at ~20% of ADT so you can always exit cleanly.
Qualified Audit
Any modified audit opinion on a company’s accounts. In QAV it’s an immediate disqualifier — you don’t buy it, full stop.
Buy List
The weekly ranked list of checklist-passing, well-scoring stocks published to members (AU and US). It’s a screen to research from, not an instruction to buy.
Pulled Pork
The podcast segment where a single stock already on the buy list gets a deep-dive research write-up.
Data sources of record
Stock Doctor (Australia) and Stockopedia (US / international) — the authoritative sources for QAV’s valuation metrics and scorecard items. See the Data Services page.
“Cash is fact, profit is opinion.”