How Investors and Traders Can Use the Historical Ratings API to Analyze Stocks

If you're an investor or trader looking to find fundamentally strong stocks, the Historical Ratings API can be a powerful tool. This API helps you understand how a company's financial health has changed over time — which is key when making long-term investment decisions.

What is the Historical Ratings API?

The Historical Ratings API gives you access to past financial ratings for any publicly traded company. It shows how different financial scores have moved over time, so you can track trends and decide whether a stock is still strong fundamentally.

You can use the API by pasting the endpoint into your browser or by using it in your custom app. Here's what the endpoint looks like:

https://financialmodelingprep.com/stable/ratings-historical?symbol=AAPL&apikey=YOUR_API_KEY

Just replace:
- `AAPL` with the stock symbol you want (like `MSFT`, `GOOGL`, `TSLA`)
- `YOUR_API_KEY` with your personal API key.

What Does the API Return?

The API gives you a list of ratings and scores for past dates. Here's an example of what you'll see:

{
"symbol": "AAPL",
"date": "2025-04-28",
"rating": "B",
"overallScore": 3,
"discountedCashFlowScore": 3,
"returnOnEquityScore": 5,
"returnOnAssetsScore": 5,
"debtToEquityScore": 1,
"priceToEarningsScore": 2,
"priceToBookScore": 1
}
]

Let's break this down:

- rating: A letter grade (like A, B, C) showing overall financial health.
- overallScore: A combined score from 1 to 5 (higher is better).
- discountedCashFlowScore: Measures if the stock was undervalued or overvalued in the past.
- returnOnEquityScore (ROE): Shows how well the company turned equity into profit.
- returnOnAssetsScore (ROA): Shows how effectively assets generated income.
- debtToEquityScore: Measures the company's debt vs. shareholder equity.
- priceToEarningsScore (P/E): Shows how the stock price compared to its earnings.
- priceToBookScore (P/B): Tells if the market was paying more or less than book value.

How Traders and Investors Can Use It

Here's how you can use this data:

1. Track Long-Term Trends
See how a company's scores have improved or declined over the years. A company with rising ROE and ROA scores over time shows increasing profitability — a good sign for investors.

2. Spot Financial Red Flags
If you notice falling scores, like a dropping DCF score or rising debt-to-equity score, it could be a warning sign. You might want to avoid or sell the stock.

3. Compare Stocks
Looking at the historical ratings of two companies in the same industry can help you pick the stronger one. Compare their financial trends instead of just the current numbers.

4. Add to Custom Tools
Developers can use the API to fetch data and build stock analysis dashboards or tools.

The Historical Ratings API endpoint is a simple yet powerful way to track a company's financial strength over time. This tool can help you find fundamentally strong stocks for long-term gains.

Use it to:
- Check if a stock is still worth holding
- Find undervalued opportunities
- Build better stock comparison tools

Start analyzing your favorite stocks today.