Desk Notes2 min read
How a Gladiator Score is built
One number, 0 to 100, locked before the outcome is known. What moves it, what never does, and why a number beats an adjective.
Every pick this desk publishes carries a Gladiator Score: one number, 0 to 100, printed beside the call. It is the most asked-about thing we do, so here is exactly what it is, how it is assembled, and — just as important — what it is not.
Not a price target
A score of 80 does not mean the stock will rise 80 per cent, or rise at all. The score measures conviction: how strongly the evidence supports the call, graded the same way every time. A price target pretends to know the future. A conviction score admits the future is uncertain and tells you how much weight the desk is putting behind its own reasoning.
What goes in
Four things move the score. Fundamentals — the quality and durability of the business itself. Valuation against the sector — what you are being asked to pay relative to comparable companies. Momentum quality — whether the market's recent treatment of the stock is supported by anything real. And balance-sheet risk — how much financing fragility could break the thesis regardless of whether it is right. Each pick is scored on the same rubric, in the same order, before publication.
The human override
A model applied without judgement is just automated overconfidence. An analyst can overrule the rubric — but when they do, the override and its reasoning are published with the pick. You will never see a score that was quietly nudged. Disagreement between the analyst and the framework is information, and we print it.
What never moves it
Popularity does not move the score. Coverage fees do not move the score, because we accept none. And how a call would make our track record look does not move the score — the number is locked before the outcome is known and never edited afterwards. A score that could be revised in hindsight would be worthless, so it cannot be.
Why a number at all
Because adjectives inflate. Every research house is "highly convinced" of everything, which tells you nothing. A number forces ranking: an 84 is a bigger commitment than a 61, visibly, comparably, permanently. And a number can be wrong in public — scores sit on the track record next to their outcomes, where anyone can check how conviction and results have lined up. That exposure is not a bug. It is the discipline that keeps the scoring honest.
General information only — not personal financial advice. Research access is offered to wholesale investors under s708 of the Corporations Act.