> ## Content Index
> Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.altamiraequity.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further.

# Perfect on Quality, Waiting on the Trend: TSM's 13-for-13 Problem
- URL: https://www.altamiraequity.com/scorecard-tsm-perfect-qc-2026-11-08/
- Published: 2026-11-09T03:31:43.000Z
- Updated: 2026-11-10T07:40:31.000Z
- Description: TSM is one of only three names in 515 to pass the scorecard's 13-criterion QC gate perfectly — with a fundamental score of 79.7. A technical score of 39.9 is the whole reason it still sits in Tier 3.
- Author: Altamira Capital
- Tags: Research, #qc-review, Scorecard

*Altamira Equity Research — Scorecard Notes. Source: External 516 KPI Scorecard, edition dated 7 November 2026 (prices as of the 6 November 2026 close; 515 of 516 names scored). All scores, pillars and KPI values below are taken directly from that edition's dataset.*

## The headline

The scorecard's quality-control gate is deliberately hard to clear: 13 criteria, and only **13 of 515 names** in this edition carry a QUALIFIED verdict at all. Just **three** names pass all 13 — ResMed, ASML, and **Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM)**.

TSM is the interesting one, because the dataset cannot decide what to do with it. It rose **+5.3 points to 67.8** in this edition — the joint second-largest gain in the universe — on the back of a fundamental score of **79.7**, the kind of number that normally lives near the top of the table. Yet it sits at rank 40, in **Tier 3**, because the other half of its profile points the other way: a technical score of **39.9**. The dataset's own formula makes the tension explicit — the total is 0.70 × fundamental 79.7 + 0.30 × technical 39.9\. TSM needs **+2.2 points** to cross into Tier 2, and almost all of the gap is the trend, not the business.

## The fundamental case — the named KPIs

Every pillar except one scores between solid and exceptional:

- **Health pillar: 96.0.** Net debt to EBITDA of 0.0, debt to equity of 0.20, and interest coverage of 156.5×. The balance sheet is, on these cells, close to unassailable.
- **Growth pillar: 86.3.** Revenue compounded at 23.3% over five years and 18.9% over three; diluted EPS at 28.3% over five years; free cash flow at 26.9% over five years and 24.0% over three.
- **Moat pillar: 86.8** — rated Wide and Widening, sourced to pricing power.
- **Quality pillar: 79.2,** anchored by a five-year average return on invested capital of 21.0%, a gross margin of 59.9%, a net margin of 45.1%, and cash conversion of 152.4%.
- **Shareholder pillar: 77.7.** Dividend per share compounded at 15.3% over five years and 24.4% over three, on a payout ratio of 22.4% and a dividend yield of 1.12% — capital return that is growing fast from a conservative base.
- **Valuation:** at a price of $375.44 against fair value of $534.00, the margin-of-safety cell reads **+29.7%**.

Two honest limits belong in the record. The free-cash-flow yield is a modest 2.71% — the cash machine is real, but the market already charges for it. And the dataset's **P/E (next twelve months) cell for TSM is empty**, so this note quotes no forward multiple for the name rather than filling the gap from elsewhere.

![TSM's pillar scores in the scorecard edition this note reads: health, moat, growth, quality and shareholder pillars against the technical pillar the dataset names as its one weakness](https://www.altamiraequity.com/content/images/2026/11/scorecard-tsm-perfect-qc-2026-11-08-pillars.png)

TSM's pillar scores in the scorecard edition this note reads: health, moat, growth, quality and shareholder pillars against the technical pillar the dataset names as its one weakness. Source: External 516 KPI Scorecard dataset, as quoted in this note.

## The counterweight — a trend that has not agreed

The dataset names exactly one weakness for TSM: **technical**. The cells behind that label:

- **Relative-strength rank (6-month): 24** — near the bottom of the universe — against a 12-month rank of 77\. The long trend and the short trend are telling different stories: the shares are up 29.8% over twelve months but down 10.3% over three.
- **RSI-14: 36.3**, price **−6.5% versus its 200-day average** and −13.0% versus its 50-day average, and −23.0% below the 52-week high.
- Trend state: **MIXED**.

The nuance inside the technical block matters. TSM still meets **5 of 6 Minervini trend-template criteria**, and its trend-template cell scores 83.3 (green). The drag is concentrated in the momentum cells — relative strength, RSI, and a MACD histogram of −1.67% — not in a broken long-term structure. In plain terms: the dataset says the business passed every quality test it was given, while the market's recent vote went the other way.

## The perfect-QC trio, side by side

The three 13-for-13 names make a clean study in how the same quality verdict can sit on very different totals:

|                         | TSM         | ResMed (RMD) | ASML         |
| ----------------------- | ----------- | ------------ | ------------ |
| Total score             | 67.8        | 71.6         | 65.5         |
| Tier                    | 3           | 2            | 3            |
| Fundamental / technical | 79.7 / 39.9 | 78.3 / 56.1  | 80.7 / 30.2  |
| Strongest pillar        | Health 96.0 | Value 93.8   | Quality 93.5 |
| Margin of safety        | +29.7%      | +56.7%       | +30.5%       |
| Trend state             | MIXED       | MIXED        | DRIFTING     |

ResMed is what TSM's profile looks like with a merely average technical score instead of a poor one: through the Tier 2 line, with the trio's deepest margin of safety (+56.7%, price $235.30 against fair value of $543.15) and an 8.61% free-cash-flow yield. ASML is the mirror image of TSM at greater amplitude — the trio's highest fundamental score (80.7) and its lowest technical score (30.2). The pattern across all three is the edition's quiet theme: in this dataset, at this moment, quality is not the scarce input. Trend confirmation is.

![The three names with a perfect QC pass, side by side: total score, fundamental score and technical score, as tabulated in this note](https://www.altamiraequity.com/content/images/2026/11/scorecard-tsm-perfect-qc-2026-11-08-trio.png)

The three names with a perfect QC pass, side by side: total score, fundamental score and technical score, as tabulated in this note. Source: External 516 KPI Scorecard dataset.

## What to watch next

- **The +2.2 gap.** TSM crosses into Tier 2 if its technical cells repair even partway — the relative-strength rank and the distance versus the 200-day average are the cells to watch first; the fundamental side has little left to prove at 79.7 with a 13/13 QC pass.
- **Whether the QC pass holds.** A perfect gate score is a snapshot, not a status; the next edition re-tests all 13 criteria.
- **The trio's spread.** ResMed defends the only Tier 2 seat; ASML needs the same technical repair as TSM, from further back.

*Sources: External 516 KPI Scorecard dataset, edition 2026-11-07 (kpi-full-2026-11-07.json) — total and pillar scores, tier assignments, QC gate verdicts (13/13 for TSM, ResMed and ASML; 13 QUALIFIED names in the edition), named KPI cells (ROIC, margins, cash conversion, revenue/EPS/FCF/DPS CAGRs, payout, leverage and coverage ratios, margin of safety, FCF yield, RS ranks, RSI-14, distances versus moving averages and the 52-week high, Minervini criteria count), trend-state classifications, and the dataset's total-score formula. Fair value is stated as published in the dataset; the P/E NTM gap for TSM is the dataset's own empty cell. This note is research commentary on a published scorecard, not investment advice.*