Capital IQ Definition

Capital IQ is the research division of Standard and Poor’s. It provides detailed research and analysis of the stock market to a variety of investing stakeholders.

Founded in 1999, Capital IQ started life as a provider of software and analytics related to the markets. It was sold to McGraw Hill in 2004 for more than $200 million.

Standard & Poor’s was established in 1941 and has grown to become the world’s leading index provider and independent credit rating source. Since Capital IQ was acquired by Standard & Poor’s in 2004, the company has grown into a global profile, with operations in more than 20 countries overseen from its headquarters in New York City. It has made a number of significant acquisitions for growth and expansion. These include the acquisition of Heale Financial in 2006 for $13 million and ClariFI, Inc. for $87 million in 2007.

Capital IQ’s web portal offers various software and data feeds to advisory firms, banks, corporations, investment managers, private equity funds, universities and more, providing overall market awareness and investment analysis audiences can use to inform their investment strategies.

Every year, Capital IQ collects and analyzes more than 135 billion data points in order to serve as the leading provider of financial services research. The data Capital IQ collects and reports to its users includes company profiles, executive summaries, financial information and independent analyst reports.

Capital IQ investigates financial news, market insights, company performance data and sector-specific data. The firm provides subscribers with intelligence on more than 62,000 public companies and 4.4 million private firms. According to the company's website, it covers financials for 88,000 publicly-listed companies or 99% of global market capitalization.

Additionally, Capital IQ researches and analyzes more complex investment structures, including mutual funds and hedge funds, providing investors with up-to-date performance comparisons, insights and fund strategies.

Capital IQ's widespread approach to market analysis provides information that can be valuable to investors of all types, ranging from large institutional traders to smaller, individual investors and financial hobbyists.

The web portal for Capital IQ’s products offers many powerful tools for institutional and individual investors alike. These tools give users the ability to gain broad market understanding through the use of its various features, including market snapshots, industry and sub-industry reviews, surveys and general economic insights.

Major products of the Capital IQ platform include Compustat, Xpressfeed and Money Market Directories (MMD). Together, this suite of tools provides users access to desktop research, screening, real-time market data, backtesting, portfolio management, financial modeling and quantitative analysis through web-based and Excel-based applications.

Compustat, one of Standard & Poor's flagship services, has provided financial and statistical market data since 1962, and the Xpressfeed service is a formatting and delivery method of the Compustat database that permits users the ability to access and interpret real-time market data using their own tools. Money Market Directories are a powerful prospecting tool, offering comprehensive, global insights into foundations, endowments and similar funding sources.

• Capital IQ is the research arm of Standard & Poor's. It analyzes more than 135 billion data points from an assortment of sources to provide actionable intelligence to subscribers.