Pasting data from Standard & Poor's Stock Reports.
Updated 10 Sep 2001

The data from a Standard & Poor's Stock Report (as a PDF file) 
can be "imported" into the TSSW spreadsheet by following the 
procedure described below.  The TSSW spreadsheet does not get 
the data directly from the PDF file.  Instead, a program that 
can display PDF files is used to copy the data to the Windows 
clipboard.  The TSSW spreadsheet "pastes" the data from the 
clipboard.

To copy the data from the S&P report to the clipboard, you 
will most likely use Adobe Acrobat Reader, or a web browser 
utilizing an Acrobat Reader plug-in.  Adobe Acrobat Reader 
is available as a free download on the internet at ...
  http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep.html

These instructions assume you are using version 4 or 5 of Adobe 
Acrobat Reader.  If you are using version 3 you will not be 
able to select and copy text using the browser plug-in.  You 
will either need to upgrade to a later version, or you will need 
to figure out how to save the PDF file to your local disk and 
then view it using the full Acrobat Reader program.  Whether or 
not you are able to save the PDF file depends on how the web site 
is setup.  On the TD Waterhouse site, for example, I can view 
S&P reports but I can't figure out any way to save them (the v3 
plug-in doesn't allow you to save, and right-click "Save Target 
As" in Internet Explorer doesn't work because the link doesn't 
go directly to the PDF file).


At present, the Annual data and Quarterly data are copied to the 
TSSW spreadsheet independently.  Here is the procedure.


**************************************************************
***  Before starting, you will probably want to go to the  ***
***     "VL Data" sheet and click on "Erase All Data".     ***
**************************************************************


*** Annual Data ***

- Open a PDF formatted Standard & Poor's report using your web 
  browser (if you're getting the report over the internet) or 
  using Adobe Acrobat Reader (if the PDF file is on your 
  local disk).

- Go to the 2nd page (where the annual data is).

- Right-click in the report and choose "Select All".

- Right-click again in the report and choose "Copy".

- Go to the "VL Data" sheet in TSSW.

- Click on "Paste S&P Data".


*** Quarterly Data ***

- Open the S&P report as for Annual Data.

- Locate the Quarterly data section.  (On the 1st page, 
  titled "Fiscal Year Ending ..." with sub-sections for 
  "Revenues" and "Earnings Per Share").

- Choose the "Text Select Tool" (on the toolbar) by clicking 
  the icon just to the right of the "hand" and "magnifying 
  glass" icons.  In Acrobat Reader version 4 and 5 it is 
  the icon with a large capital "T" (in version 3 the icon 
  has the letters "abc").

- In the Quarterly data section, click on the word "Revenues" 
  and then "drag" (move the mouse while holding down the mouse 
  button) until the selection includes all the data in both the 
  "Revenues" and "Earnings Per Share" sub-sections.  (The 
  selection will also include some extraneous text from the 
  adjacent column to the left.)

- Right-click in the selection and choose "Copy".

- Go to the "VL Data" sheet in TSSW.

- Click on "Paste S&P Data".


*** Some things to note ***

In Microsoft Windows you can use Alt-Tab on the keyboard to 
switch back and forth between Acrobat Reader and Excel while you 
are copying and pasting data.

The procedure above only imports data from the S&P report that 
matches the categories on the "VL Data" sheet.  To import annual 
data into the "Other Data" row, use the procedure for importing 
"generic" data (as described in the document on that topic).

If the data in the clipboard can not be properly identified 
by the TSSW spreadsheet no data will be imported.  Depending 
on the particular circumstances, you may get a warning dialog, 
or nothing will happen at all.

Annual data for Common Shares Outstanding is not imported 
because that information does not appear in an S&P Stock Report.  
If you do not use "Erase All Data" before importing, any existing 
data in this row will remain unchanged.

For Quarterly data it is important that the selection start 
with the word "Revenues", as this is how TSSW knows you are 
pasting quarterly data.  The selection must include the entire 
row for all four quarters.  Make sure you don't inadvertently 
leave out the right-most number on the bottom row.  Extending 
the selection too far won't cause any problems.  (And, 
actually, you can start the selection with "Earnings Per Share" 
if you only want to paste EPS data.  Similarly, you can select 
just the Revenues sub-section of you only want to paste that.)

For Annual data, the following information is imported in 
addition to the appropriate annual data items.
-  Last Fiscal Year "name" (cell E6).
-  Last Fiscal Year ending date (cell B6).  The fiscal year is 
   assumed to end in the same calendar year as it's "name".  
   This is often correct, but not always.

For Annual data, you are not required to copy *all* the annual 
data.  If you prefer, you can select and copy only those rows 
that are of interest to you.  You must, however, include the 
complete row title in your selection.  (Copying just the Low 
Price row will not work, since that can not be distinguished 
from the Low P/E row.)

The instructions say to choose "Select All" and "Copy" by right-
clicking.  Using a web browser plug-in, this is the only method 
that works.  If you're using Adobe Acrobat Reader (not the 
browser plug-in), you can also perform these operations from 
the Edit menu.  With the plug-in, these choices appear on the 
Edit menu but are not functional (in my experience, at least).

-Jim Thomas
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TSSW_Excel
