Why can't I connect to Yahoo Finance?

Which site does a better job reporting trailing earnings of ETFs and mutual Funds: Yahoo Finance or Vanguard?

• I am trying to assess the Price/Earnings (PE) ratio of some Vanguard mutual funds and ETFs.  It seems that if I look at Yahoo finance, Morningstar, and the Vanguard web site I get three different numbers. Take as an example the ETF "VT" and some numbers observed on 2013-07-12. Morningstar tells us that the prospective PE ratio is 13.75.  This site differs from the other two in that it identifies its numbers as prospective, and that alone is sufficient to explain a difference from the other two. So I am really interested in determining how Vanguard and Yahoo Finance differ in their computation of PE ratios. On 2013-07-12 Yahoo tells us that the PE ratio is 14 (ttm) using 2013-06-29 numbers: http://finance.yahoo.com/q;_ylt=At2RmzpH1akU5bXGZAGJYK8UNcAF?uhb=uhb2&fr=yfinanceheader_test2&type=2button&s=VT   On 2013-07-12 Vanguard tells us that the PE ratio is 17.8, using of 2013-05-31 numbers.  http://finance.yahoo.com/q;_ylt=At2RmzpH1akU5bXGZAGJYK8UNcAF?uhb=uhb2&fr=yfinanceheader_test2&type=2button&s=VT Between 2013-05-31 and 2013-06-29 the price of the shares dropped 3.5%.  http://finance.yahoo.com/q/hp?s=VT&a=04&b=28&c=2013&d=05&e=29&f=2013&g=d However, the difference in reported PE ratio is about 27% and this is a big difference for anyone trying to price equities against another asset class.  This is a typical difference between the two sites I have noticed for years, and similar difference can be found for other ETFs and mutual funds.  I am certain that someone working in the industry has at some point built a spreadsheet of the underlying holdings and measured which web site does a more accurate job of stating backward-looking PE ratios.

• Answer:

  Lets's first explain to the public what you are trying to do.  PE ratio is a number which reflects the price of a stock, or group of stocks like a Fund relative to the earnings.  For example, if the earnings are $1 per share and the stock/ fund price is trading at $12 then the PE is 12. Investors typically use this number in determining investments in the same industry which investment is better priced based on earnings.  This system of looking at PEs works well with "Value" investing (finding cheap stocks) but does not work well with "growth" investing (finding) the fastest growing companies. Or let's say, growth investors look for fast upward moving PEs. Answer:  The Best way to get the correct PE is to call the fund company who offers that fund because many traditional mutual funds do not disclose their full holdings to outside tracking services.  Otherwise Morningstar will be a close 2nd on accuracy. Reason:  Mutual funds are not required to report  the investments in the fund right away, so different services like Yahoo only report the PE on what they have.  ETFs are required to report daily so their PEs are more accurate.  In your case, call Vanguard direct to get the correct PE of all stocks in your fund.  For credibility most funds report their holdings to Morningstar so they will be the most accurate. I admit, you will get squirrelly PEs on Traditional Mutual Funds, because they want to keep all their holdings a secret. Otherwise, why would you buy them? ETFs are much more transparent to see their daily holdings. Disclaimer:  Mutual funds and ETFs have risk of loss which the investor must be willing to bear.  http:// http://www.tacticalwealthmanager.com