Piotroski F-Score

Piotroski F-Score: definition

The Piotroski F-Score is a score from 0 to 9 that measures a company's financial strength. It adds up nine yes-or-no tests on profitability, funding and efficiency. Each test passed scores 1 point. A score of 8 or 9 is strong, 0 or 1 is weak.

Joseph Piotroski, an accounting professor, published the F-Score in 2000 in his study "Value Investing: The Use of Historical Financial Statement Information to Separate Winners from Losers". He used it to improve a strategy of buying companies with a low price to book value.

Over the 20 years from 1976 to 1996, buying only the low price-to-book companies that scored 8 or 9 gave an average market-adjusted return of 13.4% a year. Buying the high scorers and selling short the low scorers returned 23% a year. Past results do not guarantee future returns.

Key facts

Nine yes-or-no tests, so the score runs from 0 to 9.
Every test uses the trailing 12 months (TTM), compared with the 12 months ending one year earlier.
The score updates on both interim and final results.
A test that cannot be calculated scores 0. The F-Score Missing Values indicator tells you how many.
An unchanged value fails the leverage, current ratio and asset turnover tests. It must improve to score 1.

How is the Piotroski F-Score calculated?

Each of the nine tests scores 1 if the company passes and 0 if it does not. The F-Score is the total.

#	Test	How it is calculated	Scores 1 if
Profitability
1	Return on assets (ROA)	Net profit after tax divided by total assets 12 months earlier	ROA is positive
2	Cash flow return on assets (CFROA)	Operating cash flow divided by total assets 12 months earlier	CFROA is positive
3	Change in ROA	This year's ROA compared with ROA a year earlier (which uses total assets 24 months earlier)	ROA is higher
4	Quality of earnings (accrual)	CFROA (test 2) compared with ROA (test 1)	CFROA is higher than ROA
Funding
5	Change in leverage	Total debt (long-term plus short-term debt, including lease liabilities) divided by the average of total assets now and 12 months earlier, compared with a year earlier	Leverage is lower. The same or higher scores 0, so a company with no debt in both years scores 0
6	Change in liquidity	Current ratio (current assets divided by current liabilities) compared with a year earlier	The current ratio is higher. The same or lower scores 0
7	Change in shares in issue	Weighted average number of shares from the company's results, compared with a year earlier	The number of shares is the same or lower. Any increase, however small, scores 0
Efficiency
8	Change in gross margin	Gross margin (sales minus cost of goods sold, divided by sales) compared with a year earlier	Gross margin is higher
9	Change in asset turnover	Sales divided by total assets 12 months earlier, compared with a year earlier	Asset turnover is higher. The same or lower scores 0

Evaluation
Piotroski F-Score = test 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + 6 + 7 + 8 + 9
Good or high score: 8 or 9
Bad or low score: 0 or 1

More detail on the ratios: Leverage Ratio, Total Debt, Current Ratio and Gross Margin.

Calculated on trailing 12 months

All the F-Score ratios are calculated on a trailing 12 months (TTM) basis. This means the last twelve months (not the company's financial year) are compared with the same twelve months a year earlier. We do this so that the screener always uses the latest financial results of the company.

The F-Score updates on both interim and final results. For a company that reports every six months, the trailing 12 months at the interim results are the second half of last year plus the first half of this year. At the final results they are the full financial year, compared with the previous full year.

How to use the Piotroski F-Score

Available as a screening ratio: Yes

Available as an output column ratio: Yes (look under the Quality heading)

How to select the highest F-Score companies

To find companies with the highest or best Piotroski F-Score, set the slider from 0% to 10%.

Are there any F-Score values missing?

Also take a look at the indicator F-Score Missing Values. It shows you how many of the 9 Piotroski F-Score tests could not be calculated.

For example, if the Piotroski F-Score is 6 and F-Score Missing Values is 3, then 3 of the 9 tests could not be calculated because the data was not available. A test that cannot be calculated scores 0, so this company scored 6 out of a possible 6.

If the results for the same period a year earlier are not available, all 9 tests count as missing, because even ROA and cash flow need the total assets from a year earlier. Treat any F-Score with missing values above 0 as incomplete, not as a low score.

Frequently asked questions

Does the F-Score use the trailing 12 months or the last financial year?
The trailing 12 months. It is compared with the 12 months ending one year earlier, so it updates after both interim and final results.

How soon after results does the F-Score update?
The screener rebuilds every night. The F-Score changes the morning after our data supplier delivers the new figures, usually within a few days of the results announcement, sometimes longer.

Why does a company show an F-Score of 0 with 9 missing values?
The results for the same period a year earlier are missing, so none of the 9 tests can be compared. That 0 is not a real score.

Is the F-Score the same as the FS-Score?
No. The FS-Score (Financial Strength Score) is a 10-test update of the F-Score that adds free cash flow and looks at net share buybacks instead of any share issue.

Do trading statements change the F-Score?
No. Trading statements have no balance sheet or cash flow statement, so the F-Score only changes on interim and final results.

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This page is general information about how the Quant Investing screener calculates the Piotroski F-Score. It is not personalised investment advice.
Last reviewed: October 2026

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