Coverage FAQs for S&P Capital IQ Estimates

• Coverage

• What counts as a contributor?
  • • Each contributor is counted once – In situations where a contributor has departments in different regions (e.g., Credit Suisse North America, Credit Suisse Europe) we still count them as a single contributor (e.g., “Credit Suisse”) 
    • Definition of inactive contributors can differ among vendors – We generally only include active contributors in our publicly available coverage statistics.  Vendors have varying definitions of “active contributor” which can explain some of the differences in the contributor counts among vendors.  For example, a contributor may still be in business but is no longer producing estimates.  We will deem them inactive for estimates; therefore, they will not be included in our coverage statistics.  
    • Estimates by ticker/trading item – We capture “per share” estimates on the ticker/trading item level.  If a user is not seeing all the contributors they expect for a company with multiple listings, we recommend checking under the other listing(s).  For example, Sony trades on TSE under 6758 and NYSE under SONY. We reflect the different estimates from analysts for the two trading items respectively. There is more estimates coverage for TSE:6758 compared to NYSE:SONY. The user may be looking at NYSE:SONY but expecting TSE:6758 coverage.
• Why are there coverage differences between S&P Global and other competing vendors?
  • • Coverage by small regional contributors may differ amongst estimates vendors, whereas bulge bracket coverage tends to be consistent among the major vendors.
    • S&P Capital IQ Estimates are collected from broker research reports or from estimates feeds provided by the brokers directly.  Our estimates data set does not include automated/computer-generated estimates.
    • Vendors may use different criteria to determine which contributors to add to their network.  Examples:
      • Analyst calculations vs. automated estimates – brokers that primarily provide automated forecasts are generally excluded from our network
      • One-person shops vs. institutions – the brokers in our network tend to be institutions
      • Contributor type (IRP, Sell Side/Buy side, etc.) – the estimates displayed on S&P Capital IQ Pro are collected from Sell Side analyst estimates
• Companies: If contributors are comparable across estimates providers why do some providers show different levels of company coverage for the same contributor?
  • • Contributor entitlements:  Contributors may restrict users from seeing estimates for particular companies or geographies.  On S&P Capital IQ and S&P Capital IQ Pro, if a user is entitled to a particular broker, they can view all the contributor’s estimates (they are not restricted to particular geographies or companies).
    • Company coverage statistics may differ between data vendors due to active and inactive companies – There are situations where we deem a company inactive (no longer in business or have active estimates coverage).  Our active company coverage statistics do not include inactive companies.    
    • Parent vs. consolidated – We provide estimates for both parent and consolidated estimates (where available and provided by analysts).  Other data vendors may only collect one or the other.  For example, company A owns 60% of company B. Company A may have estimates that reflect the parent company only (company A) and may have estimates for consolidated estimates, which include company A and 60% of company B’s estimates. Ten analysts provided consolidated estimates for company A and three analysts provided standalone parent estimates.  We will have estimates both parent (3) and consolidated (10) while other information providers may only have estimates for one or the other. [Example: CEAT Limited (BSE:500878)]
• History: What is the difference in the historic coverage of S&P Capital IQ Estimates compared to other providers?
  • • Our historical estimates date back to 1997 internationally and 1999 specifically for North American companies. The length of history varies based on metric.
• Metrics: What metrics will be added to S&P Capital IQ Estimates in the future?

  • We are working to expand our industry specific, segment and product level estimates.

    Our metrics currently include:

    1. General metrics (44) 
    2. Industry specific metrics for 
       • Oil and Gas (12) 
       • Banks (10) 
       • Insurance (5) 
       • REITs (6) 
    3. Commodity price targets (20) 
    4. S&P 500 top down 

• Quality/Methodology

• Why are there differences in the contributors included in your consensus compared to other providers? In some cases, you have less – doesn’t that make your consensus less accurate?

  • Our robust methodology is one of the strengths of S&P Capital IQ Estimates. Our rigorous inclusion/exclusion process can result in us excluding contributors that others don’t. Our methodology ensures high quality consensus values that truly reflect valid estimates. A higher number of contributors in consensus does not always mean a more accurate consensus. Our products will display all estimates with a clear explanation on why certain contributors have been excluded from consensus.

    • We only include the majority basis – Different contributors estimates are not always comparable, some include items others don’t, etc. Mixing estimates that are not the same basis will not give a valid consensus number. Some competitors mix the basis in their consensus. We always exclude the minority basis.  As an example, a company may have ten analysts covering it.  Eight out of the ten include stock-based compensation while two do not. We will exclude the two contributors that were not aligned with the majority and display a consensus of eight contributors.
    • Our estimates are updated to reflect guidance and significant events – We exclude estimates that are not reflecting the latest company guidance or not reflecting significant events such as a large earnings surprise, natural event, new regulations, etc. 
    • We do not calculate estimates on behalf of analysts e.g., company vs. per share level – Certain aggregators may calculate estimates on analysts’ behalf when components are available. We do not do this as we want to only reflect analysts’ actual estimates. For example, some analysts may provide estimates for both local and ADR estimates while others only provide one or the other. We will only reflect ones that are provided by the analysts even though we may have enough to calculate an ADR equivalent.
    • Variations in policies for stale estimates - Stale estimates policies differ between providers. Some are more relaxed while others are stricter. Based on our analysis, 180 days for North American (reports quarterly) and 210 days for international (reports semi-annually) is the optimum amount of time. It gives enough time for analysts to digest, analyze and publish new estimates.  
• Why do S&P Capital IQ Estimates show revenue as net for some companies and gross for others?

  • In certain situations, we may only have one field for a metric. For example, Revenue. Let’s say there are 10 analysts providing revenue estimates, 8 provide net revenue while 2 provide gross revenue. Our revenue consensus will reflect the 8 net revenue estimates and a consensus footnote will indicate that it’s reflecting net revenue. The 2 excluded gross revenue estimates will have an exclusion footnote indicating they are on a different basis. Different companies therefore may have revenue estimates that are not comparable as the majority of brokers look at net revenue for one but gross revenue for another.

• How does the quality of S&P Capital IQ Estimates compare to other providers?

  • We offer best in class data quality and pride ourselves on it. As evidence of how strongly we stand behind both the quality and timeliness of our data we offer a quality program giving $50 for every verified error received.  

    To ensure our data quality we run a robust list of automated and manual quality checks at the point of ingestion, before, at the time of and after collection.

• Timeliness

• What are the differences in speed of S&P Capital IQ Estimates and other estimates providers?

  • There are minimal differences in general, but differences in prioritization amongst providers may result in small variations in timing for certain metrics or companies. Our typical turnaround times range from minutes to a few hours.

    S&P Capital IQ Estimates	Data Type	Typical Turnaround Time	Award Eligibility
    	Estimates	2 hours	24 hours
    	Headline Actuals	1 hour	12 hours
    	Guidance	3 hours	12 hours