Trade Ideas from Equity Sales Specialists Significantly Outperform Market in 2006
FactSet Research Systems (NYSE: FDS) announced today that the
latest figures from its Alpha Network database show ideas generated by
equity sales personnel across the network produced a total return of
19.1% in 2006, outperforming their benchmark by over 10%.
These figures include all long and short recommendations as
promoted to clients by the brokers using the Alpha Network, a leading
alpha capture system designed to communicate trade ideas between the
sell-side and their clients. Nearly 4,000 institutional salespeople
globally use Alpha Network as their main channel for communicating and
measuring investment ideas. While approximately 7,000 ideas are
created per month, fund managers receive only those ideas targeted
towards their own investment strategy, from only those brokers they
have selected. Alpha Network also enables fund managers to measure the
performance of individual brokers, overall or by sector, to identify
the best performing brokers in their networks.
"Most fund managers recognize a significant talent among brokers
for generating alpha but don't have an effective way of capturing
their ideas," says Henning Holter, Director of FactSet AlphaMetrics.
"As our findings show, the Alpha Network strategy of fund managers
selecting brokers, setting clear guidelines for recommendations, and
systematically tracking and rewarding idea generation produces
convincing alpha that may be translated into strong investment
returns."
The results are true across fund managers who use Alpha Network.
Though managers differ on investment strategies and their chosen
network of brokers, they commonly benefit from more focused and
relevant ideas, leading to better performing recommendations. The
system has produced equally impressive results for the equity sales
personnel who submit ideas, as their performance and value are
objectively captured and rewarded.
"Using Alpha Network to promote their best ideas - with full
transparency and recognition - seems to have a positive impact on
brokers' focus and commitment to ideas," says Holter. "We believe this
strategy is a major contributor to raising the quality of investment
ideas and to ensuring that ideas are both actionable and relevant to
clients."
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2006 Figures
Full Year
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Revenue generating ideas 62% of all ideas
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Total Return (Return produced from investing in all
submitted ideas) 19.1%
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Return vs. benchmark (MSCI World - Div reinvested) 10.2%
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4th Quarter Only
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Revenue generating ideas 66% of all ideas
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Total Return (Return produced from investing in all
submitted ideas) 8.1%
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Return vs. benchmark (MSCI World - Div reinvested) 3.6%
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Ideas in the Alpha Network database outperform the index at
approximately 1% per month.
About FactSet AlphaMetrics
AlphaMetrics, a division of FactSet Research Systems, is a market
leader and pioneer of alpha capture systems to the investment
management sector and has set the industry standard for performance
tracking of trade ideas. AlphaMetrics has a global presence with
24-hour client service supporting clients in over 20 countries.
AlphaMetrics products are available as web-based applications or
within FactSet's DIRECTIONS and Marquee products for more integrated
analytics.
The AlphaMetrics suite includes Alpha Network, Alpha Pool, and
Meeting Tracker Alpha Network creates an objective measure of the
quality of ideas from the sell-side, making the best ideas and
contributors readily apparent. Alpha Pool is a collaboration tool used
by internal research groups to share, communicate, and disseminate
ideas among research teams. Meeting Tracker is used by both the buy-
and sell-sides to document, analyze, and measure the value of meetings
held with Executive Management, Street analysts, conferences, or
independent research providers.
About FactSet
FactSet Research Systems Inc. combines integrated financial
information, analytical applications, and client service to enhance
the workflow and productivity of the global investment community. The
Company, headquartered in Norwalk, Connecticut, was formed in 1978 and
now conducts operations along with its affiliates from more than
twenty-two locations worldwide, including Boston, New York, Chicago,
San Mateo, London, Frankfurt, Paris, Milan, Tokyo, Hong Kong, and
Sydney.
FactSet is a registered trademark of FactSet Research Systems Inc.
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