FactSet Research Systems Inc. (NYSE:FDS) unveiled a new online platform yesterday that combines and offers both financial and alternative data.
Known as Open:FactSet Marketplace, this is the latest addition to the company’s growing content and technology solutions business, available as an improved feature of its digital data intelligence platform. It streamlines the process of finding and integrating ideal alternative datasets for clients.
We observe that FactSet stock has gained 23.8% in the past year, underperforming the 26.4% rally of the industry it belongs to.
A Single Point of Access to Data Combinations
The platform combines FactSet’s data feeds such as supply chain, ownership and fundamentals with pre-linked and synchronized datasets from selected third-party providers. Also, it provides a single point of access to the data combinations to users.
Currently, the Marketplace features 25 data feeds that encompass FactSet’s core content and alternative datasets such as satellite, sentiment, and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) data from third-party providers.
The first set of third-party providers include, ESG data vendor RepRisk, satellite imagery provider Genscape, crowd-sourced earnings estimates vendor Estimize and news sentiment provider Alexandria Technology. In the coming months, the company will continue to add partners and release new data feeds.
Eyeing Competitive Edge, Market Share, Client Retention
The latest move appears to be FactSet’s latest gambit to gain competitive advantage, increase market share and put a check on the declining client-retention ratio.
FactSet Research Systems Inc. Revenue (TTM)
According to FactSet CEO Phil Snow, “Clients are increasingly looking for a competitive edge through data, and we are innovating to meet this growing demand.”
According to technavio, the Global Business Information market is expected to witness a CAGR of 5% from 2017 to 2021. FactSet, being one of the key data providers, seems well-positioned to take advantage of projected growth.
Zacks Rank & Key Picks
FactSet carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Better-ranked stocks in the broader Business Services sector include CRA International (NASDAQ:CRAI) , FTI Consulting (NYSE:FCN) and NV5 Global (NASDAQ:NVEE) , each sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
In the trailing four quarters, CRA International, FTI Consulting and NV5 Globalhave delivered a positive earnings surprise of 28%, 6.1% and 5.8%, respectively.
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FactSet Research Systems Inc. (FDS): Free Stock Analysis Report
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