Standard & Poor Research Insights

Standard & Poor's - Research Insight
Standard & Poor's Compustat is a division of the McGraw-Hill Companies. Compustat produces a variety of software and database products for institutional, financial, corporate, and academic clients.

Compustat PC Plus is a powerful software and data retrieval system designed for financial analysis. This system is a platform for financial databases including COMPUSTAT and GLOBAL Vantage databases with sophisticated Windows software that allows you to manipulate, analyze, and present this data in a variety of ways.

Data

The COMPUSTAT database contains fundamental financial, statistical, and market data for U.S. and Canadian corporations, banks, savings and loans, business segments, geographic areas, industry composites, aggregates, and indexes, in addition to extensive data on inactive companies. It provides extensive coverage of annual and quarterly Income Statement, Balance Sheet, Statement of Cash Flows, and supplemental data items on publicly held companies.

Data Population

COMPUSTAT company data is derived from publicly traded companies, specifically those trading on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), American Stock Exchange (ASE), National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations (NASDAQ), Over-the Counter (OTC), Toronto Stock Exchange, Quebec Stock Exchange, Montreal Stock Exchange, and whollyowned subsidiaries of companies that are required to file with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Data is categorized into sets
 

Introduction and Defining Your PC Plus Workspace

Topics

What is PC Plus?
The PC Plus Workspace
PC Plus Terminology

"What is PC Plus?

PC Plus is a powerful financial analysis software and database program combined. With PC Plus, you can create queries on the database, use the reporting tool to present data in effective and sophisticated reports, and use the charting features to create slick, presentation-quality materials.

Start PC Plus by opening the PC Plus program group and double-clicking on the PC Plus icon. The PC Plus desktop will appear as follows:
"The PC Plus Workspace"

PC plus Menu Bar
 

Using WinHelp Find+

WinHelp Find+ saves you time and energy when trying to locate specific information in a help file. You can quickly and easily perform a full-text search and locate every occurrence of a word or text string within a help file. You can also open or print those topics directly from the WinHelp Find+ window.

To use the WinHelp Find+, begin from an open help file:

1. Click Find+ in the WinHelp button bar.

You'll see the WinHelp Find+ dialog box.

2. Enter the text you want to search for in the first text box,

3. If you want to search the entire help file, simply click the Find button. If you want to search in topic title only, search for whole word only, or perform a case-sensitive search, select the appropriate check box and then click the Find button.

The WinHelp Find+ dialog box displays the search results:

Section 2 of the dialog box displays the titles of the topics in which the text is located. The number in parentheses is the number of occurrences of the text in the topic.

Section 3 of the dialog box displays the text of the selected topic with the first occurrence of the search text highlighted. Use the scroll bar to scroll through the text of the topic.

The Topic section (middle bottom of the window) indicates how many topics contain the search text and which topic is displayed. Use the arrows to move from topic to topic.

The Term section (lower right of the window) indicates how many times the text occurs in the topic which occurrence of the search text is displayed. Click the down arrow to view the next occurrence of the search text within the currently displayed topic.

4. Once you find the help topic you are looking for. you can either display it or print it. If you want to display the help topic, click on the Display Topic button. If you want to print the help topic, click on the Print Topic button.

5. To close WinHelp Find+, click on the Cancel button.

You'll return to the help file.
 
 
 

PC Plus Step-by-Step Instructions to Frequently Asked Questions

1. How to screen on companies in a particular SIC code or range:

Click on SCREEN
Click on NEW
In the formula column on line i, type in SIC and press Enter
Enter a 4-digit SIC code in Min, and a 4-digit SIC code in Max (use the same code if you want to screen on only
one SIC - otherwise you can specify a range). Use Help/Reference/SIC codes to *look up a list of all SIC codes
Click on the running person located on the top toolbar to process or *run* the screen.
To save the set of companies that pass your screen, click on your right mouse button and select Save Passed Set
from the drop-down menu.

2. How to screen on companies located in a particular state:

Click on SCREEN
Click on NEW
in the formula column on line 1, type in STATE and press Enter
To *look up the code corresponding to the state you want to search on, go to Tools/Descriptions, then type in
STATE, and click the View Code button.
Put the code in the Min and Max columns of the screen.
Click on the running person located on the top toolbar.
To save the set of companies that pass your screen, click on your right mouse button and select Save Passed Set
from the drop-down menu.

3. How to screen on companies located in a particular country:

Click on SCREEN
Click on NEW
In the formula column on line 1, type in **FIC and press Enter
To look up the code corresponding to the country you want to search on, go to Tools/Descriptions, then type in
FIC, and click the *View Code button.
Put the code in the Min and Max columns of the screen.
Click on the running person located on the top toolbar.
To save the set of companies that pass your screen, click on your right mouse button and select Save Passed Set
from the drop-down menu.

* In many cases you may also click your right mouse button and choose the -Descriptions option for descriptions
of *code items such as STATE, SPMI (S&P Index Code-Historical), etc., when using in screening and reporting.
"Note ... some mnemonics differ between PC Plus and GV Plus. The country code for GV Plus is 'CINC' versus
'FIC* Not all items for one product are available in the other.  1

4. How to screen on companies in the S&P 500 at a particular point in time:

Click on SCREEN
Click on NEW
In the Base Set column on line 1, change the set to $C+$R and press Enter (this will add our active companies to
our research companies
In the Formula column, type in SPMI
To *look up the codes for the S&P Major Index you want to screen on, go to Tools/Descriptions, then type in SPMI,
and click the View Code button. To get all of the S&P 500, you need to include a range of 10 through 60.
Put 10 in the Min and 60 in the Max columns of the screen.
To run this screen for a previous year, Go to Tool/Run for a Time period. Click the Select Period radio button, then change Relative to Absolute, leave the Annual choice, and select Y88 (or whichever time period you want to run it for). Remember that SPMI is an annual item and therefore your time period must be annual on this screen. Be sure to click the ACCEPT button to the right of these selections, then click OK
To save the set of companies that pass your screen, click on your right mouse button and select Save Passed Set from the drop-down menu.

5. How to screen on companies that meet a certain dollar-value criteria:

Click on SCREEN Click on NEW
In the formula column on line 1, type in SALE (or whatever mnemonic you want to screen on the value of) and press Enter.
Type the amounts in Min and/or Max that you want to screen by. Remember, most financial data items are in millions, so by putting 50 in the Min and 200 in the Max, you are screening on. all companies which have Sales of $50 to $200 million.
Click on the running person located on the top toolbar.
To save the set of companies that pass your screen, click on your right mouse button and select Save Passed Set from the drop-down menu.

6. How to select a canned report to display data or view formulas:

PC Plus contains more than 80 predefined reports which can easily be run for a company or set. Using these canned reports can be much easier than building your own custom reports, and many of them contain the same data items that our clients use most frequently.
For detailed information on each of these reports, use the REPORT LIBRARY manual for reference. To access the canned reports, click on REPORT.
The list of reports appears on the left Scroll through the list and select one by highlighting it, then click OK. In the Run Report box, enter a ticker, list of tickers, or a set Then click OK
The data will appear for your company, or for the first company (alphabetically) from your list. To view the next
company's report, use the blue arrows on the toolbar to scroll to the next company, last company, or previous
company.
This data can also be exported to another application using the steps outlined under HOW TO EXPORT DATA.
You may also use existing canned reports to view or copy formulas for your own reports or screens. Follow the same instructions for running a report, but hit the ESC key when prompted for companies or sets. You are then left in the "shell" of the report and may highlight the formula box of your choice. A good example is to use the CSUMIIND.RPT to view industry comparison formulas.

7. How to build a report to display data:

The easiest way to build a custom report is to use PC Plus' report builder.
Click on REPORT
Click on BUILDER
Take a close look at the 5 report format choices you have. The Table Report and Comparative Reports are the
only two reports which display data for more than one company on the same page. Most users find the Table
Report to be the easier of the two to use. The other 3 reports (Standard, Time Series/Trend Analysis, and
High/Low/Close/Volume) can be run for one company at a time, and can display multiple data items over multiple
time periods.
Click on the report format you want to use.
Now you can add the data items you would like to see in the report. You can use the list of items on the left to look up items, and paste them over on the right side of the dialog box. You can also go directly to the small box under
" selected formulas" and type in any mnemonics or formulas directly. Be sure to click the green arrow or hit Press Enter to get the formulas down in the bigger box below. Once you have all the items added, click Next
Certain report formats will now ask you for Time Periods. To start from the current period, leave one of the choices "0" and change the other one to "-10" , or however many periods you want to go back.
Now click Build Report. Before you is a report template. To run the report, click on the running person located on the toolbar, and enter a ticker, list of tickers, or set of companies. Then click OK

8. How to select a specific time Period when running a report:

When running either a canned report or a custom-built report, in order to get time periods further back than the ones specified, you must select a period before the report is run.
Once the Run Report box comes up, and you enter the tickers or set that you want to run it for, click the Select Period radio button in the middle of the box.
Now you will see three 3 new drop down boxes which say 'Relative", 'Annual', and "0Y" If you are running a 5 year Income Statement and want to see the data for years 1980 through 1984, you will need to change the boxes to read 'Absolute", "Annual' and "Y84". This will make Y84 your current period, and run it for the 5 years prior to that. Be sure to click the ACCEPT button so these choices are recognized, and then click OK

9. How to verifv report results and take a quick look at a stream of data:

On the menu bar, go to Databases, then View/Modify Data.
Enter an Item mnemonic (i.e. PRCCM for Price-Close Monthly) that you wish to view. Enter a ticker, list of tickers, or a set.
Click on View.
You are now able to view a stream of data for one company at a time. If you entered more than one ticker, you can click on Next Co to view additional companies. This feature is valuable for validating results of a screen or report, or simply looking at data quickly, without having to build a report However, you cannot print from the View/Modify data display.

10. How to export data into another application:

Once a report has been run, the data results can be exported into Excel or Lotus. When saving a report use "File/Save As' and choose "Text options" to specify file delimiters. The step-by-step instructions are available in On-Line Help. Just click on Help/PC Plus Help/Exporting Information Into Other Applications. Then, select Exporting Data from Table and Free-Form Reports.

11. Standardization of Financial Data:

Compustat data will not always be out to what you see on a company's Annual Report 10-K or 10-Q. Our database is standardized, which means that we make certain adjustments to company reporting in order to maintain consistency and comparability across the database. An example would be where an oil or tobacco company includes excise taxes in their reported revenue figure. Compustat will adjust the sales and cost of goods sold figures for comparability purposes, according to U.S. GAAP procedures.

12. Coverage on the Compustat Database:

The Compustat database contains 20 years of annual data, 12 years of quarterly data, 7 years of business and geographic segment data, and 240 months of stock prices and dividend data. There are over 10,000 active companies, and over 7,000 research companies (inactive) on the database.

13. Using canned reports in Excel or Lotus:

Most PC Plus canned reports can be pulled up in Excel or Lotus as well as in the PC Plus workspace. These files use Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE), which you can also use to build reports in spreadsheets.
In Excel, go to File/Open.
Change your directory to c:/spws/excel. All the canned reports are listed in !his directory with an xis extension. Double-click to open the desired report.
The default company will appear. To select your own company, click the Company button and type in a ticker. The new information will slowly appear on the screen, and then the company name will appear at the top.

14. Using report builder in Excel or Lotus:

The report builder used in PC Plus is also available within Excel. This can save you the step of exporting your
data to Excel after building a report in PC Plus.
Within Excel, go to SPWS on the menu bar, and select Universal Report Builder.
From this point, the builder looks exactly as it does in PC Plus, and the steps to report building are the same.

15. Time Referencing and Periodicity

Every item 'in PC Plus has a certain periodicity - either Annual, Quarterly, Monthly, Weekly, Daily or Scalar. You can usually determine the periodicity of an item by viewing the item definition (either using Help/Data Definitions or using the Look-Up List). Another trick is to keep in mind that items which end in Q are usually quarterly (i.e. SALEQ), items that end in M are usually monthly (i.e. PRCCM), and items that end in D are usually daily (i.e. DVPSXD). Annual and scalar items do not have a specific ending.
Time referencing an item can be either absolute (i.e. [Y91]), or relative (i.e. [-3], which takes you 3 periods back, depending on the periodicity of the item). All time references used within PC Plus/GV Plus are enclosed within square brackets [ ].

16. Online Help Features and Manuals

The PC Plus interface contains many online help features, including a full listing of data definitions and a look up button for identifying companies, company sets, data items and functions. You should familiarize yourself with the use of these features, as well as with the Basics and Beyond Basics manuals, using the 800 support line only when necessary. Most questions can be answered easily and quickly with these tools, often just a mouse-click away.

17. Benefits of Using the PC Plus/GV Plus Software and Databases

COMPUSTAT software and databases are provided by your university as an instructional/research tool. Students and faculty should also realize that this powerful interface is in use globally across all industry types. Money Management, Consulting, Investment Banking, Corporate Finance, and Competitive Analysis are only a few of the applications used by private industry and government agencies worldwide. Students who familiarize themselves with these programs, and build their skills through the use of the manuals and practice, may find that they have a significant advantage in securing employment over those that see these tools as only as classroom exercises.