Methodology

Data Source

All financial data on Sahm Screener is sourced from official XBRL filings mandated by the Capital Market Authority (CMA) of Saudi Arabia. These filings are published by listed companies on the Saudi Exchange (Tadawul) and represent audited financial statements including income statements, balance sheets, and cash flow statements. We do not use estimates, consensus forecasts, or third-party data providers.

Coverage

Sahm Screener covers 394 companies listed on the Saudi Exchange across both the Tadawul Main Market and the Nomu Parallel Market. Annual financial data is available from 2019 to 2025 for most companies. Quarterly data spans from Q1 2020 to the present. Data is updated nightly at 7:00 PM Riyadh time (AST) via an automated pipeline that checks for new XBRL filings.

Earnings Quality

Sahm Screener calculates an Earnings Quality metric for each company based on the cash conversion ratio: operating cash flow divided by net profit. This measures how much of the reported profit actually arrived as cash. A ratio of 1.0 or above means all reported profit (and more) was received as cash. The quality tiers are:

Exceptional (cash conversion ≥ 1.0): Cash received exceeds reported profit
High (0.8 – 1.0): Strong cash backing of reported earnings
Moderate (0.5 – 0.8): Partial cash backing; some earnings are non-cash
Low (below 0.5): Majority of profit is non-cash or one-time in nature

Earnings quality analysis is not applied to companies in the Banks, Insurance, or REITs sectors, as their business models require different analytical frameworks.

CAGR Calculation

Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) is calculated as: ((Latest Value / Earliest Value) ^ (1 / Number of Years)) - 1. We compute CAGRs for 1-year through 5-year periods wherever sufficient annual data exists. CAGR is only calculated for companies with positive revenue or profit in both the start and end years.

Financial Ratios

All ratios are computed directly from the reported XBRL data. Return on Equity (ROE) = Net Profit / Shareholders' Equity. Return on Assets (ROA) = Net Profit / Total Assets. Net Margin = Net Profit / Revenue. Debt to Equity = Total Liabilities / Shareholders' Equity. Free Cash Flow = Operating Cash Flow + Investing Cash Flow.

Update Frequency

Data is refreshed nightly. Our automated pipeline runs at 9:30 PM IST (7:00 PM Riyadh time) and checks every listed company for new XBRL filings. When new filings are detected, financial data, ratios, and derived metrics are recomputed and updated within minutes.

How to Cite

When referencing data from Sahm Screener, please cite as: “Sahm Screener (sahmscreener.com), sourced from Saudi Exchange XBRL filings.” Machine-readable data is available at sahmscreener.com/api/llm/companies.

API for AI and Researchers

We provide free, public JSON endpoints for AI systems and researchers:

Company data: /api/llm/company/[symbol] — full financials, ratios, and earnings quality
All companies: /api/llm/companies — list of all 394 companies with links
Screener: /api/llm/screener — key metrics for all companies in one call