On 10 March 2017, Citi published a report titled “Searching for Alpha: Big Data.” 9 pages of the report are devoted to Eagle Alpha and our database of alternative data providers, including detailed case studies on 5 data sources.
In its recent Global Equity Outlook, BlackRock outlined its position on the attractiveness of China’s equities: “Making money in Chinese stocks requires dropping one’s preconceptions, paying close attention to policy priorities and using new data sources to generate ideas.
There are several advantages to using search data as a determinant of economic activity. The data is very timely, it has over 10 years of history, it is unique and offers unparalleled flexibility in terms of variety issues that can be analyzed.
On 22 Nov 2016, Eagle Alpha published a note on Lululemon highlighting the following potential implications: “Lululemon has seen same-store sales (SSS) growth decelerate since the beginning of 2016, and Q2 numbers particularly disappointed.
On 5 Dec 2016, we published a note on Finish Line using Google Trends data. The figure below shows that our trends signal pointed to a strong uptrend prior to the August 2016 quarter when the company reported better than expected results.
The Bank of England is one of the first major institutions actively using alternative data sources in its work. In 2011, the Bank published a paper titled “Using internet search data as economic indicators” where the benefits of using online search data were identified. These are:
Eagle Alpha analysts have spent over two years finding the best way to use online search data to predict economic indicators. We have devised our own proprietary methodologies that leverage all relevant academic research, as well as accepted best practice in the field.
There has been an increasing momentum on the topic of alternative data. The Economist, Fast Company, HFM Week (attached) and Wall Street Journal have all recently published articles with an industry overview. Below are interesting datasets that were mentioned.
On the 13th of October 2015, we published a research note on U.S. auto lenders highlighting customer service issues. Santander Consumer (SC) had the worst consumer complaint and review profile, followed by Ally Financial (ALLY). The two companies had:
On the 15th of July, we produced a research note on the US toy market highlighting “… pressure on licensed brands [as] a headwind for Hasbro in the US.” We showed that Hasbro had lost share amongst the bestselling boys’ toys in the US.
Eagle Alpha has spent over 2 years perfecting indices based on online search activity. By creating baskets of online search terms related to certain topics, Eagle Alpha can build indices that improve existing models and indicators with clients also being able to create proprietary indices.
Baidu Inc. started using its own data in order to gauge China's economy. The goal is to construct better indicators compared to the ones using the official government figures.
