8/3/2017
Visualizing present worth with excessive and low throughout totally different scales
Bar charts are nice instruments for visualizing exact quantitative comparisons, however in sure cases they are often problematic. For instance, if the distinction within the knowledge may be very small then different chart sorts are sometimes higher, for instance a dot plot. To additional complicate issues, lets say that the dimensions of the issues being in contrast are all very totally different. A typical instance is inventory worth. When taking a look at a portfolio of shares, the most typical metrics are the present inventory worth and the 52-week excessive and low. Every inventory is on a distinct scale. Their costs are vastly totally different and the vary between the low and the excessive shall be totally different. Under is a bar chart evaluating the present inventory worth of Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A) at $268,000 per share to the value of Kroger (KR) at $24 per share. It simply would not work for this type of knowledge and utilizing a dot plot on this case will not remedy it both.
Most any web site offering inventory info presents the identical fundamental info, sometimes in a desk format. I’m going to concentrate on the present inventory worth and the 52-week excessive and low. Right here is the inventory worth info for Tableau Software from Yahoo Finance.
If wanting on the worth of a single inventory over time, then one of many customary inventory charts is a candlestick chart. Such a chart is particular to shares and it reveals the excessive and low worth and the open and shut worth over time.
This instance of a candlestick chart is from the Data Visualization Catalogue at DataVizCatalogue.com.
As soon as you’re aware of this chart, it’s simple to see the vary of the inventory worth over time (assuming you are not colorblind). However here is the problem, what if you happen to needed to see the present worth at a single time limit and the place that worth is compared to the general vary of the 52-week high and low, AND do it for a number of shares that every have very totally different worth ranges like Berkshire Hathaway and Kroger? Not a straightforward drawback to resolve.
One answer is to normalize the information in a means that it may be condensed. First, we think about the 52-week low to be 0% and the 52-week excessive to be 100% after which we will plot the present worth in between. Nevertheless, as an alternative of truly changing them to 0% and 100%, we present the precise values. This permits us to make a relative comparability throughout a number of shares, however nonetheless allows us to see the excessive, low and present worth inside that vary.
Constancy presents one of these view on their web site. I made a decision to create my very own variation of this utilizing Tableau together with just a few tweaks. I present the inventory symbols in alphabetical order, adopted by the present worth. The shaded bar reveals the vary from the inventory’s 52-week low to the 52-week excessive and the blue dot plots the present worth in relation to the high and low.
It’s now simple to see the place every inventory pertains to its 52-week low and 52-week excessive. Chipotle may be very near its 52-week low whereas Adobe and Nvidia are very near their 52-week excessive. Additionally, you will discover that this model is nice for cell design too. The chart works very nicely in a small area making it nice for dashboards or permitting for a vertical scroll on cell.
Associated Situations
Such a chart might be used to match numerous various things, any services or products with a present or common worth, and evaluating inside a spread (high and low worth). For instance, totally different merchandise promote at totally different worth factors; cars with totally different fashions, resort rooms, class of service on an airline, tickets to an occasion, and so forth. In every case there are seemingly pricing tiers, a present worth and a spread of historic pricing.
Constructing in Tableau
I’ll save the detailed instruction for one more publish. This one is a bit difficult with numerous little particulars to get the bar, dots and labels to work good. It could be a very good Workout Wednesday exercise for these fo you who comply with Andy and Emma. Within the meantime, if you happen to simply wish to take aside the workbook you may obtain it from Tableau Public here.
I hope you discover this info useful. If in case you have different concepts on visualize this info or you probably have any questions be happy to electronic mail me at Jeff@DataPlusScience.com
Jeffrey A. Shaffer
Observe on Twitter @HighVizAbility
