BenSC,

You wrote, Me, with the slight touch of OCD that I possess, decided to create my own spreadsheet of these securities. I took the initial results from Quantum and further screened these securities for companies that paid a regular dividend of at least 2% (why 2%? well, had to pick a number and that seems to me to be a decent cushion though I know one cannot count on REITs to pay at a consistent rate). I also stripped out any securities that are called or partially called or have anything "funky" going on with them. This has given me a list of 96 securities to continue refining. My next steps are to input in the current price, S&P rating, M* evaluations, and price variance for the security. I'm not quite halfway through that task. Once I get done with that spreadsheet I'll go from there.

I do something similar. At least I have a list based on a list from year-end. I recommend importing the sheet into GoogleDocs. A GoogleDocs sheet can get live (delayed) quotes for each security.

I have my spreadsheet broken down into 2 pages - one with raw QuantumOnline data and another for mining. The Quantum data page has the following columns based on their original reports, plus some search-and-replace massaging:

Symbol	
CUSIP	
Security Description	
StockExchange	
IPO Date	
Cpn Rate	
Ann Amt	
LiqPref	
Call Price	
Call Date	
Matur Date	
Moodys	
S&P	
Rating Date	
15% Tax Rate	
Conv	
IPO Prospectus	
Distribution Dates	
First Dist Month	
First Dist Day	
Frequency	
Suspended

The mining page has the following:

Symbol	
Security Description	
Ann Amt	
Cpn Rate	
Price	
LiqPref	
Yield	
Post-Tax Yield	
Matur Date	
YTM	
Post-Tax YTM	
Call Date	
YTW	
Post-Tax YTW	
Moodys	
S&P	
15% Tax Rate	
Suspended	
Distribution Dates

Some of the items are just lookups from the data table. Others are GoogleFinance() lookups. Others are formula. The post-tax columns are really just estimates based on an assumption of a 25% marginal income tax rate. However, I find the post-tax estimate to be very useful in comparing returns for taxable accounts.

The entire thing is just a work-in-progress. I'd like to adjust my Yield, YTM and YTW calculations by the amount of accrued, but unpaid interest - I can know this based on the payment dates and the coupon. I'd also like to create a table of estimated default risks (as a ratio) based on the Moodys & S&P ratings. I could then discount Yield, YTM & YTW based on the estimated default risk so I can attempt to compare all of the fixed yield securities directly.

Anyway, thought that might get you thinking about how to analyze the securities available.

- Joel