> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.joinyellowbrick.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # How returns work > How Yellowbrick calculates pitch returns and author returns, which ideas count, and why equal-weight idea returns are more useful than a simulated portfolio. Yellowbrick shows two kinds of returns. **Pitch returns** ask how one idea did after it was published. **Author returns** ask how that author's included ideas have done as a group. Neither number is a fund NAV, a brokerage statement, or a claim that you would have earned the same result. They are research scores: did the idea work, and has this author's body of work worked. Tap a returns row in the app for a one-line summary. This page is the full method. ## Pitch returns Pitch returns measure the stock from the first price a reader could reasonably trade after the write-up, out to each window. We do **not** use the close on the pitch date. That price already includes the day's news, and many posts go out after the close. Entry is the **dividend- and split-adjusted open on the next calendar day** (or the next session with a price). Exit for a window is the **adjusted close on or before** that horizon. ``` return = (exit price / entry price) − 1 ``` Windows you see on a pitch: | Label | Meaning | | - | - | | **1M / 3M / 6M / 1Y** | One, three, six months, or one year after the pitch date | | **LATEST** | From entry through the most recent price we have | A dash means that window is not ready yet (for example a pitch from last week has no 1Y) or we do not have a usable price. ### Shorts and bearish ideas A bearish pitch is scored so a **falling** stock is a win. We flip the sign of the raw price return. A −20% move in the shares is shown as **+20%** for a bearish idea. ### Compared with the market Filters such as **excess** return compare the same window to a simple benchmark: **SPY** when the company was larger than about \$2B in USD at the pitch, otherwise **IWM**. The benchmark uses the same entry and exit dates, and the same sign flip for bearish ideas. The pitch card itself shows the idea's own return, not the excess figure. ### When we stop counting a pitch If an author later reverses the thesis, we can cut off further windows after that date. Windows that had already finished stay in place. The idea does not keep accruing as if the original call were still live. ## Author returns Author returns are the **equal-weight average** of that author's **included** pitch returns for each window. Every included idea counts as one. A mega-cap write-up and a small-cap write-up have the same weight. A “new position” and an “add” have the same weight. We do **not** scale by dollars, shares, “conviction,” or how loud the post was. On a **pitch card**, the author row is the record **as of that pitch date**. Only windows that had already finished by then are in the average. A later homerun does not rewrite what you would have seen at the time. On an **author page** (and similar profile surfaces), the row is the author's **current** snapshot: the same method, rolled forward to the latest completed windows. ## Why this is not a portfolio return A portfolio or “if you had followed this author” number would need position sizes, when they added or trimmed, cash, hedges, and what you could actually fill. Public write-ups almost never include that. Inventing sizes would be a story, not a measurement. Equal-weight idea returns answer a different, cleaner question: **when this person publishes a new idea, how do those ideas tend to do?** That is more useful for choosing who to read: * One oversized winner cannot hide a pile of poor ideas. * Recycled posts on the same name do not dominate the average (see [Which pitches count](#which-pitches-count)). * You can compare a concentrated fund writer with a high-frequency blogger without pretending you know either book. If you need profit and loss, use the author's own letters or your own fills. Yellowbrick is scoring the research, not simulating a sleeve. ## Which pitches count An idea is included in author returns when all of these are true: * It is a **new or added** long or short (`initiate` or `increase`), not a monitor, hold, or close * It is not a **duplicate** of the same company, date, and thesis * There is no other included initiation or add in the **same company within the prior year** The one-year cooldown keeps a campaign of posts on one ticker from counting as many independent ideas. A close does not reset that clock. After a year, a fresh initiation in the same name can enter again. Updates, recaps, and “still like it” notes can still appear in the feed. They just do not get a second vote in the author's average. We can also exclude a pitch when the write-up is not actually a new idea. The rules above are the default. ## What the windows mean for authors Author **1M** is the average of included pitches whose **one-month** window has finished, not “this author's last 30 days of publishing.” **1Y** and **2Y** work the same way. A dash means too few completed windows, or none. That is why a very new author can show **1M** before **1Y**, and why a long record still waits on each idea's own horizon. ## What these numbers are not * Not your personal return if you traded the idea * Not tax-, fee-, or borrow-aware (shorts especially) * Not a live mark-to-market of an author's fund * Not a promise that past idea returns will continue Prices are split- and dividend-adjusted. We still depend on mapping the write-up to the right listing, a usable pitch date, and a price series. If something looks wrong, use **Report an Error** on the pitch. Use **author returns** to decide who is worth following. Use **pitch returns** to see whether that specific idea worked after it was published. Filter Home by either when you want a higher bar. This documentation is built and hosted on [Mintlify](https://mintlify.com), a developer documentation platform.