Software and Datafeeds
Through the Trading Room, the Hughey Center for Financial Services (HCFS) provides students with access to an unrivaled collection of datafeeds and analytical tools valued at more than $3.5 million in annual licensing fees. This investment positions the HCFS as one of the most powerful investment research centers in the country. Provided below is a description of each application. For information on workshops, mini classes and tutorials provided for each of the applications, please visit our resources page.
Bloomberg is a comprehensive, online service for global financial information that includes: Company information (stock performance, news, balance sheets, historical data, officers, evaluations, etc.); information on U.S. and foreign markets; extensive sets of data and statistics on industries, companies, etc.; numerous options for analyzing and graphing data; country monitors, economic calendars and currency news; and news services (general, markets, economics, special reports, etc.).
Bloomberg has one of the most extensive databases of information available in the financial world. Bloomberg’s built-in screening, searching, and analysis tools allow for extensive data retrieval, interpretation, and manipulation. Information on every financial market, instrument, and variable in the world is at your fingertips. Bloomberg’s international information coverage is also wide-ranging, with news and economic information on every country available both real-time and historically. Advanced bond screening, custom option monitoring, portfolio tracking, Excel data exportation, technical analysis, FX cross-rates, industry tracking, global economic statistics, relative company analysis; these are simply a handful of the hundreds of the integrated Bloomberg functions designed to allow the end user near infinite information access and ability.
Crystal Ball Pro is a new forecasting and risk analysis suite licensed from Decisioneering. Crystal Ball extends the forecasting capability of spreadsheet models created in MS Excel and provides the information needed to make accurate, efficient and confident risk management decisions. When interfaced with CB Predictor, the program can create projected sales figures, expense data or other finnacial statements items based on historical data. Using Monte Carlo and Latin Hypercube simulation, Crystal Ball displays a range of possible outcomes and the likelihood of achieving each of them. The program can also be interfaced with Opt Quest to conduct linear and nonlinear optimizations. Optimization is the process of finding the best, or optimal, solution for your model.
DataStream Advance is a reporting and charting interface designed for use with DataStream’s internationally renowned historical financial and economic databases. It supplies stock market, indices, fundamentals and economics data from around the world with historical depth spanning more than 30 years. DataStream’s graphical user interface enables retrieval and display of reports, charts, and data, and allows for the custom integration of requested information over a variety of reporting formats.
FactSet DIRECTIONS is a compete source for financial information. It combines more than 200 databases from industry-leading suppliers and powerful analytical tools into a single information system. FactSet Directions has more thn 50 applications that allow users to analyze companies, portfolios, markets, and economies seamlessly. The programs comprehensive platform enables users to customize data to the smallest degree and to present data in a infinite variety of formats, including customized reports and charts. Some of the tools included are: Company Analytics, Real-Time Market Data, Market Analysis, Ownership Analytics, Deal / M&A Analysis, Hosted Data Storage, Portfolio Analysis, Risk Analysis, Fixed Income Analysis, Screening Tools, and Spreadsheet Models.
Portfolio Analysis: Using portfolio analysis the user is able to investigate sources of over and under performance, view the current valuation and recent trading history of portfolio constituents, and compare portfolio weights to any available benchmark (including the S&P, Russell and MSCI indices). Using dynamic reports that incorporate your portfolio, along with data on hundreds of global indices, you can quickly assess the factor that make your portfoio move and illustrate how your investment decisions affect portfolio performance.
Style, Performance and Risk (SPAR): FactSet's return-based portfolio analysis applications provides flexible reports and charts that can be used to analyze the style, performance and risk of selected portfolios, benchmarks and competitor funds. With SPAR, you can dynamically create a presentation of a portfolio's style, performance, risk and peer group using any combination of reports, charts and split chart views. Incorporate statistical formulas like regression, market capture and semi-variance to gauge the absolute risk of selected portfolios and returns as they relate to the amount of risk assumed. Once these charts are created SPAR lets you analyze your portfolio's returns against more than 20,000 equity and fixed income benchmarks along with competitor mutual funds and institutional / seperate accounts.
FactSet Marquee integrates real-time global news and quotes into the FactSet desktop application to provide complete analytic, research and market data to the user. The program allows the user to easily access real-time, fundamental and historical data from a single platform. With virtually limitless customization, you can tailor your screen to fit your specific needs. Easily change the look and feel of the screen displays, customize your watch lists and quote displays, filter news stories and access your portfolio holdings in real time.
Financial Trading System (FTS) is a web-based software package that allows professors and Trading Room staff to simulate markets using pre-designed cases, teaching modules and other supporting material. With this system, students have the opportunity to manage their own real-time position, act as market traders and apply trading theories. Through the use of FTS students learn important concepts from personal trading experiences by viewing the problem from both a trading and trading support perspective. Cases that are used cover Fixed Income markets, Equity markets, Derivative markets as well as Swaps markets.
The Thompson First Call database software provides daily updates of consensus EPS and sales estimates as calculated by First Call. The program also includes expected quarterly report dates and guidance information, which is collected directly from companies. Companies covered in this database are located in the United States, Canada and Latin America. This software is fully integrated with FactSet which means that the user can perform analysis and create reports using First Call’s data in conjunctions with all that FactSet offers, including customized spreadsheets and reports, charting, statistical analysis and much more.
Matlab (Matrix Laboratory) is an interactive software system for numerical computations and graphics. It is especially designed for matrix computations for the use of solving linear equations, computing eigenvalues and eigenvectors as well as factoring matrices. Additional from that, the software has a variety of graphical capabilities.
Mergent Horizon is an online database that allows users to access up-to-date company information including stock prices, financials, key competitors, dependent suppliers and key customers. The application identifies the specific lines of business that each target firm operates and decomposes the revenues generated by each functional division. Mergent identifies the best fit sectors and most true competitors by identifying the largest revenue producing division and matching it to pure play proxy firms and to other competitors that generate revenues by selling similar products and services. When listing competitors, Mergent categorizes the firms as focused or pure-play competitors based on the similarities of the division responsible for generating the revenues. For companies competing in the healthcare and pharmaceuticals sectors, Mergent offers detailed analysis of the company's pipeline, the stage of FDA approval, side effects of the treatment, afflictions the drug is designed to treat, and compares specific drugs to others designed to treat similar afflictions. Mergent also allows the user to create customized, user defined indexes of focused or pure-play companies. The software's screening tool allows users to screen the universe for companies meeting user defined criteria including, momentum and fundamental data, revenue by geography, or screen by FDA approval status and product, symptom, and side effect to narrow the selected field. The application also has charting capabilities, SEC filings, custom reports, price data, and trade names for every company in their database.
Morningstar Investment Research Center and Morningstar Direct provide students with a basic understanding of the functionality of the software. Morningstar provides detailed information on more than 20,000 mutual funds, equities, ETFs, and hedge funds, including historical data (monthly, quarterly and annual), fund composition, portfolio screening, risk adjusted star-ratings, investment style boxes, and analyst reviews and commentaries. Morningstar also offers the ability to rank and compare funds, perform advanced analysis for research purposes, and construct and analyze mutual fund portfolios.
Northfield Portfolio Optimizer (NPO) allows the user to uncover factor influences on an existing portfolio, and, in combination with inputs given, applies these influences to portfolio construction. The application suggests buys and sells that deliver more expected returns for each level of predicted risk. The two main functions of NPO are to Measure Risk and Choose the Right Model for analytical purposes.
- Measure Risk: Analyze an initial or model portfolio to suggest potential trades that will maximize the risk/return of the portfolio. Select global, regional or single-country models from suppliers such as Northfield, APT, or your own custom risk models to analyze and evaluate your portfolios.
- Choose the Right Model: NPO provides a number of models to help you evaluate your portfolio. These models include such aspects as U.S. Fundamental Equity, Global Risk, Single Country and much more.
S & P Compustat provides a complete set of high-quality fundamental and market data. The program provides a transparency to today’s markets with reliable information, deep history and extensive company coverage — giving users the right tools to approach the market with confidence. Some of the data that is available through this software includes company credit ratings, equity research, risk solutions, evaluations and much more.
SPSS is a statistical software that allows users to input a set of data and run frequencies, cross-tabulations and any other statistical correlations. Using this application, you can make graphs and charts and other visual aids. It is very helpful in analyzing responses from surveys. Using the various functions, allows you to determine trends and correlations that wouldn’t otherwise be seen.
Thomson One Analytics is a leading global research network that money managers and brokers worldwide rely on for real-time, equity and fixed income research, corporate news, and analyst coverage. Its network enables end users to track particular industries, equities, and fixed-income offerings and their correlated earnings estimates, financial outlooks, and consensus recommendations provided by Wall Street analysts. Users can also create portfolios of both local and international equities to monitor the analytical fluctuations underlying those securities.
Option Tutor is an advanced derivative pricing and analysis tool. By inputting a series of market and derivative variables, users can accurately price the value of option contracts, as well as compute the underlying constituents that affect an option's price (delta, gamma, vega, etc.). More advanced functions allow the user to compute the prices and payoff streams of a variety of multiple-put/call option strategies.
The functionality of Bond Tutor is similar to that of the Option Tutor software. Its primary function allows users to input data on a bond or series of bonds and calculate both present and future bond values and/or the values of underlying cash flows. By incorporating the use of Bond Tutor during simulated bond trading (using the FAST software), users can accurately compute the price of the bonds involved, and consequently trade them most efficiently.
CAPM Tutor goes the next step beyond both Bond and Option tutor by allowing the end user to take a modern approach to managing a portfolio of stocks and mutual funds. CAPM Tutor is a unique investment tool that reflects these broad trends in investment analysis. CAPM Tutor instructs users on the principle of the Capital Asses Pricing Model (CAPM) and the importance of portfolio diversification in real-world market scenarios.
WONDA is an on-line institutional investment data research tool incorporating state-of-the-art screening capability on over 3,800 data items. Designed by investment professionals with a culmination of over 35 years of hands-on experience, WONDA can be easily adapted to any investment style. The system combines company fundamentals, earnings estimates, industry group statistics, corporate data, and many of the most powerful technical tools available in the industry including its own proprietary ratings.
Worldscope Global database provides the user with access to current, comprehensive and comparative information on securities in worldwide developed and emerging markets. In conjunction with FactSet’s powerful analytical tools, the user is able to obtain information needed for global a investment perspective. Worldscope covers more than 38,000 companies, in 53 countries and 186 industries. The user has the ability to evaluate global corporations by reviewing financial statements and interim data as well as screen for companies by such criteria as; country, sector or industry. When comparing companies from different countries with different reporting practices, Worldscope can easily and accurately convert date to any other currency.
