Company Financial Analysis (Global Companies)

The library has a number of useful resources for the financial analysis of public companies (companies quoted on a stock exchange).

Company Accounts

Thomson Reuters’ Worldscope database provides historical accounting data – balance sheet, income statement and cash flow statement. It is available through Thomson One Banker and Datastream. Bloomberg also has accounting data – command FA (Financial Analysis).

Thomson One Banker, Datastream and Bloomberg can also provide data on a company’s financial market performance – e.g. historical shares prices and returns, and corresponding data for market indices.

Company Filings (including Annual Reports)

Company Filings are available on PI Navigator,  Thomson Research, and Bloomberg. (Recent company reports are usually available direct from the company website.)

Analysts Reports

Analyst/Broker reports are available from Thomson Research and Bloomberg (command BRC).

Company News

Factiva from Dow Jones is a extensive online news database covering a wide range of sources. (See How Business News can enhance you research for more details.) Bloomberg also provides a wide range of company, financial market and economic news.

Related FAQ questions:

• Where can I find company financials, e.g., balance sheets etc.?
• Where can I find current and historical company annual reports?
• How do I find analyst reports (investment bank reports)?
• Where do I find current news about a company?
• How do I compare a company to its industry?

For further tips: use tags below to find other posts on these databases, and look at  the How to research … guides,

Datastream, Worldscope and Units

What are the units in Datastream for the accounting variables, e.g. total assets, net debt, EBITDA?

The accounting variables in Datastream are from Worldscope and despite a long detailed Worldscope Data Definitions Guide there is no detail about units.  The answer from the Thomson Reuters helpdesk is as follows:

• Most of the accounting data from Worldscope to Datastream is in thousands.
• Per share data & number of employees are available in actual.

Note that this is specific to the Worldscope in Datastream:

1.  The variable/datatype Market Value (MV) is in millions, while the similar Worldscope variable Market Capitalization (WC08001) is in thousands (and an annual rather than a daily figure).
2. Using Thomson One Banker to get Worldscope data the default unit (scaling factor) is millions, though this can be changed or you can explicitly request the details by asking for WS.TotalAssets.ScalingFactor or WS.TotalAssets.ScalingFactorText (see Excel examples below).

For more information see:

• Previous Worldscope accounting data post
• Worldscope on Manchester Business Answers 24/7 (FAQ)
• Example Excel files – DS-WorldscopeUnits (.xlsx) or DS-WorldscopeUnits(.xlsm)

Worldscope accounting data – finding data tips

The large number of data items (datatypes) available in Worldscope can make it difficult to find the ones that you want. The following tips might help.

DS Navigator - Worldscope search (click to expand)

Using the Datastream Navigator:

1. Make sure you use reset to clear previous search criteria
2. Use menu on left to restrict scope to Worldscope
3. Try alternatives when searching by name
4. Try restricting search to just key items – (Key WS Item option)

You can also try making a static request for say all Worldscope balance sheet items for industrial companies. See screencast http://screencast.com/t/2Fl1PQszf

Remember – just because a data item exists within Worldscope does not mean that data will be available for all companies – much depends on what the company reports in its annual accounts (and when a company was included in Worldscope – WC11516 Date Added to Product)

Thomson One Banker - Worldscope definition (click to enlarge)

You can also use Thomson One Banker:

1. Hover over a value in a Worldscope report to get the definition
2. Use item lookup on Worldscope in the Report Writer (Web interface) or Report Wizard (TOB Excel add-in) – right-click to access definition
3. Access pre-defined Worldscope report in the TOB Excel add-in – select a value and the TOB worldscope name will appear in the description of the cell contents e.g.
   =PFDL(“ws.OperatingIncomeAfterDepr“, <date ref>, <comp ref>, <currency ref>)

The Worldscope data definitions guide provides the full detail of the templates for companies (Industrial, Banks, Insurance and Other Financial) and the definitions for all data items. See also:

• Are the Worldscope codes available in financial statement order? (from FAQ)
• http://finabase.blogspot.com/2011/03/datastream-company-accounts-database.html (from Databaser blog)

 

 

Panel data from Thomson One Banker (Excel add-in)

The Thomson One Banker (TOB) Excel add-in report wizard is an excellent tool for retrieving data (from the TOB company analysis module). However, it does not offer the flexibility to get your results directly as panel data.

This can be done using the TOB PFDL language. For example, a spreadsheet showing panel data from Worldscope – http://db.tt/IvyaySY (Excel 2007 with TOB add-in required)

The core formula for a cell is =PFDL(I$2,$B4,$A4,I$3) where :

• I2 cell is ws.Sales (the data item) 
• B4 cell is Y2010   (the period)
• A4 cell is “company key/identifier” (ISIN in this example)
• I3 call is USD (the target currency)

The formula =PFDL(I$2,$B4,$A4) is enough if no currency conversion is required, and you can use =PFDL(I$2,$B4,$A4,”USD”) if you are always going to convert into US Dollars.

The formula =PFDL(I$2,$B4,$A4,I$3) means that rows and columns can be copied and edited and will refer to: the data item in row 2 of current column, the period in column B of the current row, and the company key/identifier in column A of the current row.

To find the possible codes for the data items you can use: the report wizard, the Lookup Item tool, or examples from the reports library.

For valid company identifiers,

• see this example http://db.tt/ZoW6pWi (Excel 2007 with TOB add-in required) or
• select help for more PFDL information.

Previous posts on TOB Excel add-in:

• Thomson One Banker Excel add-in
• TOB and Datastream for FTSE100 returns

Thomson One Banker Excel add-in tips – some notes on resources to help you get the most out of the TOB Excel add-in.

Thomson One Banker or Datastream for FTSE100 returns

The databases Thomson One Banker and Datastream are both supplied by Thomson Reuters. A significant amount of data is available through either database:

• Financial market data on active companies and some indices
• Worldscope company accounts data
• IBES summary analysts forecasts data

This ReturnDailyFTSE100.xlsm  (Excel 2007 via Dropbox) spreadsheet shows getting daily return data for the FTSE 100 using both the Datastream and Thomson One Banker Excel add-ins. The Datastream tab will only work on a PC with Datastream and its Excel add-in installed. The Thomson One Banker tab requires its Excel add-in to be installed.
[05 May 2011 problems reported with Googledocs version ReturnDailyFTSE100.xlsm ]

• How do I access Thomson One Banker? includes brief notes on installing the Thomson One Banker Excel add-in as well as using the web interface.
• Thomson One Banker Excel add-in post July 2010 - all TOB tagged posts
• [Datastream] Share Price Return post Dec 2009 – all Datastream tagged posts
• FAQ answers for Thomson One Banker
• FAQ answers for Datastream

So if you are unable to access Datastream because the library is closed you might find Thomson One Banker useful.

Worldscope – company accounts data definitions

Worldscope company accounts (company fundamentals) data are available through Datastream and Thomson One Banker.

Worldscope describes itself as “the financial industry’s premier source of detailed financial statement data and profile data on public companies domiciled outside the United States of America. It also contains complete coverage of US companies filing with the Securities Exchange Commission, with the exception of closed end investment companies.” (Worldscope Data Definitions Guide (Issue 9) 2010, p 24)

Worldscope takes company accounts and related data to complete global templates designed to facilitate comparisons between companies both within and across national boundaries. Details of the Worldscope methodology and the defintions of the data items (datatypes) is given in the definitions document.

Worldscope Data Definitions Guide (Issue 9) November 2010 is available:

• via Datastream (Demo- http://screencast.com/t/DSLVcrAyxpY)
• via Datastream Extranet (similar to via Datastream)
• in the folder Database Manuals\Worldscope when using the database PCs in the Eddie Davies Library.

Perhaps the most important thing to remember when using Wordscope is to check whether real data is available for the companies and years being studied. Worldscope defines a large number of data items but some may only be available for companies in specific countries, or collection of the data item may only have started recently.

Manchester Business Answers 24/7:

• FAQs related to Worldscope

[27 Jul 2011 - post Worldscope - finding data tips ]

Thomson One Banker Excel add-in

The Thomson One Banker Excel add-in is a powerful resource for getting company analysis data directly into Excel, especially if you are getting data for many companies. The main restriction is that Thomson One Banker does not cover inactive/dead companies (only the few that became inactive recently).
FAQ – For Thomson One Banker, is web or Excel interface best? has more detail

Screenshot (click to enlarge)

Getting started with Thomson One Banker Excel add-in

1. Login – select padlock at top left
2. Price Wizard – select entity (e.g. Equity) and dates
3. Company Report – select company by TOB ticker or key (e.g GSK-LN)
4. Reports Library – browse other pre-defined reports to see range of data available
5. Report Wizard – select entities and items (data types) as shown above

There is a manual “Excel Add-in Manual 2007_banker_v2″ in the Database Manuals -> ThomsonOneBanker folder on the database PCs in the Edddie Davies Library, and the online help.

How do I obtain data for multiple companies in Thomson One Banker?
How do I access Worldscope?
Where can I find company financials, e.g., balance sheets etc.?
Where can I find historical stock prices?

More advanced features:

• Using “saved entity sets” from Thomson One Banker in wizards to get data on many companies
• Using PFDL commands to create your own custom reports (see documentation)

There are some sample Excel spreadsheets available on the database PCs ( Database Manuals -> ThomsonOneBanker -> ExcelAddin )

Worldscope

New question

How do I access Worldscope?

(since Worldscope is not a distinct database in the list of subscribed resources.)