# Price return, dividends and adjusted data

Understand why a price series, a provider-adjusted path and a total-return index need different labels.

## A price level is one record

Price change compares two prices. It does not by itself include cash distributions received between them. Splits change the number of shares and the quoted price; split adjustment and dividend treatment are separate questions.

A company recovering an old quoted price can have a different recovery date from a dividend-adjusted record. The basis must be named before either date is interpreted.

## Adjustment is a provider convention

Some retained fund paths use a provider’s adjusted close. These adjustments reflect its split and distribution methodology. Market Backstory labels that native field and does not describe it as an independently reconstructed investor wealth account.

A total-return index normally specifies how distributions are reinvested. Gross and net dividend treatments, withholding, timing and index rules can differ. Neither is automatically an individual’s after-tax return.

## Rebasing does not repair a mismatch

Setting two series to 100 at a common starting date makes their relative paths easier to compare. It does not align currencies, reinvestment assumptions, fees, historical membership or missing dates.

A fair comparison needs matching dates and compatible measurement bases, with any remaining difference disclosed. An attractive chart cannot supply a missing definition.

## Where the site draws the boundary

Fund studies retain their provider-adjusted basis. Selected company price studies distinguish split-adjusted prices from distribution-adjusted paths. JST research studies retain native annual local-currency fields and their source conditions.

Read each figure’s source and method panel. Where a basis cannot be established, the limitation remains explicit; the site does not invent a replacement series.

## Related research

- [Read the site’s methods](/methods/)
- [Credits and source conditions](/credits.html)
- [Compare company experiences](/#company-history)
- [SEC investor bulletin: fund distributions](https://www.investor.gov/introduction-investing/general-resources/news-alerts/alerts-bulletins/investor-bulletins/fund-distributions-investor-bulletin)