Capital IQ vs. FactSet vs. Refinitiv

In the fast-paced world of global financial markets, access to accurate and timely financial data (also called big data) can make the difference between a good and exceptional investment decision. Capital IQ (CapIQ), Refinitiv, and FactSet have emerged as some of the world’s largest providers of financial intelligence, enabling investment bankers, portfolio managers, and financial professionals across various industries to make the best possible investment decisions.

Choosing the right financial data platform as a financial professional is more than just selecting a software solution — it’s about finding a partner that aligns with your specific workflow, provides comprehensive market insights, and enhances your analytical capabilities. Each platform offers unique features, strengths, and pricing models that can significantly impact your productivity and decision-making process. The trick is choosing the one that best suits your financial data needs regarding your specific position.

Below, we’ll discuss what sets Capital IQ, Refinitiv, and FactSet apart and what they offer.

What is Capital IQ?

Capital IQ, a product of S&P Global Market Intelligence, is a comprehensive financial research platform designed to provide investment professionals with in-depth company and market intelligence. Primarily used by investment bankers, equity researchers, and corporate finance professionals, CapIQ offers a robust suite of tools for financial data analysis and research.

The platform’s primary functions include generating detailed company profiles, providing comprehensive financial data, delivering timely news updates, and offering advanced data analytics tools. While pricing varies depending on specific requirements, most enterprise-level subscriptions typically range from $10,000 to $30,000 annually.

Key Features and Benefits of CapIQ

Platform Core Features:

• Company profiles and financials: CapIQ offers a comprehensive database beyond surface-level information, providing granular details, including complete financial statements (income statements, balance sheets, cash flow statements), top-performing financial KPIs, segment reporting, and historical financial trends. The platform allows users to drill down into company financials with unprecedented depth, offering insights into revenue streams, profitability metrics, and financial health indicators crucial for investment decision-making.
• Industry and peer comparisons: The platform also has advanced screening tools that enable users to conduct sophisticated comparative analyses across industries and sectors. This feature allows financial professionals to benchmark companies against their direct competitors, analyze industry trends, and identify potential investment opportunities. Users can create custom peer groups, compare financial ratios and performance metrics, and conduct side-by-side financial analyses with unprecedented ease and accuracy.
• Valuation models and analysis tools: It’s designed with robust financial modeling capabilities that include dynamic discounted cash flow (DCF) models, comparable company analysis (CCA), precedent transaction analysis, and advanced scenario modeling. The platform provides pre-built templates and customizable models that allow analysts to quickly generate complex financial projections, assess company valuations, and conduct sensitivity analyses with professional-grade precision.
• News and research: CapIQ also includes an aggregated news platform that compiles financial information from multiple sources, including press releases, regulatory filings, industry publications, and real-time news updates. Its research capabilities also extend beyond simple news aggregation, offering deep-dive research reports, analyst insights, and contextual information that helps professionals understand the broader market implications of company-specific news.

Benefits of Using CapIQ:

• Enhanced decision-making: It provides a 360-degree view of financial information that transforms raw data into actionable insights. By offering comprehensive, interconnected financial intelligence, CapIQ enables professionals to make more informed, data-driven decisions with greater confidence and reduced risk.
• Increased efficiency: It dramatically streamlines the research and analysis process by consolidating multiple data sources into a single, intuitive platform. Financial professionals can save significant time by eliminating the need to cross-reference multiple databases, allowing them to focus on high-value analytical tasks and strategic thinking.
• Improved due diligence: The platform offers unparalleled depth of information that supports thorough investment assessment. Its comprehensive screening and analysis capabilities enable users to conduct meticulous background checks, identify potential risks, and uncover hidden opportunities that might be missed through traditional research methods.

What is FactSet?

FactSet is a powerful financial data and analytics platform that provides comprehensive market intelligence for investment professionals. Founded in 1978, the platform has become a critical tool for portfolio managers, research analysts, and financial strategists alike.

The platform’s core functions include delivering real-time and historical market data, providing extensive financial information, and offering advanced analytics for portfolio management and risk analysis. Enterprise subscription costs for FactSet typically range between $15,000 and $40,000 annually, depending on the specific package and user requirements.

Key Features and Benefits of FactSet

Platform Core Features:

• Real-time and historical market data: FactSet is a sophisticated data ecosystem that provides granular market intelligence across global financial markets. Beyond basic price and volume data, FactSet offers multi-data asset class coverage, including equities, fixed income, commodities, derivatives, and alternative investments. The platform provides historical data with minute-level granularity, enabling complex time-series analysis and trend identification.
• Financial data: It hosts an extensive repository of fundamental and estimated financial data that goes further than your standard accounting metrics. It also includes proprietary estimates from thousands of research analysts, detailed ownership information, corporate structure insights, and advanced financial health indicators. The platform provides normalized financial data for accurate cross-border and cross-industry comparisons.
• Analytics tools for portfolio management: The platform provides advanced quantitative tools that support sophisticated investment strategies. The features of these tools include portfolio optimization algorithms, risk factor analysis, performance attribution modeling, and predictive analytics. The platform enables portfolio managers to conduct complex scenario analyses, stress test investment strategies, and develop data-driven investment approaches.
• News and research: It also has a curated intelligence platform that aggregates financial news from global sources, providing contextual analysis and market sentiment insights. It goes beyond simple news aggregation by offering proprietary research, analyst commentaries, and integrated news analysis that helps professionals understand the broader market implications of financial events.

Benefits of Using FactSet:

• Comprehensive data coverage: FactSet provides an unparalleled breadth and depth of global market intelligence, covering over 90,000+ companies across 180 countries. The platform’s global reach ensures that investment professionals can access comprehensive, standardized financial information.
• Advanced analytics capabilities: The platform offers cutting-edge quantitative tools that transform complex financial data into actionable insights. Its sophisticated modeling and analysis capabilities support advanced investment strategies and complex financial decision-making processes.
• Customizable workflows: It was also designed with a highly flexible platform architecture that allows users to create personalized research environments, custom dashboards, and automated reporting workflows. It can also easily support integration with existing systems and provides API access for advanced users.

What is Refinitiv?

Refinitiv, formerly part of Thomson Reuters and now owned by the London Stock Exchange Group, is a leading financial market data, news, and analytics provider. The platform serves a diverse range of financial professionals, from traders and risk managers to investment researchers.

Refinitiv’s primary functions include delivering real-time market data, providing comprehensive news coverage, and offering advanced analytics tools for trading, risk management, and compliance. Pricing for Refinitiv solutions varies widely, with enterprise packages typically ranging from $20,000 to $50,000 annually.

Key Features and Benefits of Refinitiv

Platform Core Features:

• Real-time and historical market data: Refintiv offers a comprehensive market intelligence platform that provides instantaneous data across multiple asset classes and global markets. Refinitiv offers microsecond-level market data for high-frequency trading, extensive historical price databases, and sophisticated market event tracking. The platform covers equities, fixed income, derivatives, forex, and alternative investments, with deep liquidity and trading volume insights to deliver more than your basic price information.
• News and research: The platform is also a world-class information aggregation system combining proprietary journalism and global financial reporting. It leverages advanced natural language processing to provide context-rich news analysis, offering not just raw information but deep insights into market-moving events. It includes exclusive content from global news sources, regulatory filings, social media sentiment analysis, and expert commentary that provides a 360-degree view of market dynamics.
• Analytics tools: It also hosts a sophisticated suite of analytical capabilities designed for complex financial workflows. This suite provides advanced tools for trading strategy development, risk management, regulatory compliance, and market intelligence. It also includes predictive analytics, machine learning-powered insight generation, scenario modeling, and comprehensive compliance monitoring tools that support both buy-side and sell-side financial professionals.
• Data visualization and reporting: With Refinitiv, you’ll also get advanced visualization capabilities that transform complex financial data into intuitive, actionable insights. It offers customizable dashboards, interactive reporting tools, and advanced charting capabilities that allow users to create complex visual representations of financial data — and it supports multiple output formats and enables deep data exploration through interactive interfaces.

Benefits of Using Refinitiv:

• Extensive data coverage: Refinitiv offers unparalleled global market intelligence that provides comprehensive insights across international markets. It covers over 99% of global market capitalization, with deep data on companies in developed and emerging markets, offering first-hand global financial perspectives.
• Real-Time Market Insights: This platform provides instantaneous access to market-moving information, enabling professionals to make split-second decisions with confidence. The platform’s advanced data delivery system ensures minimal latency and maximum accuracy.
• Customizable Workflows and Alerts: It’s also a highly flexible platform that allows users to create personalized research environments, custom alert systems, and automated workflow processes. It can also support advanced API integrations and provides tools for building custom analytical applications.

Comparing Capital IQ vs. FactSet vs. Refinitiv

Core Similarities:

• Financial data: All three platforms offer comprehensive financial information beyond your basic financial metrics. They provide normalized, cleaned, and standardized financial data that enables accurate cross-company and cross-industry comparisons. Each platform ensures data integrity through rigorous validation processes and multiple data source reconciliation.
• News and research: Each platform offers top-tier research capabilities that transform raw information into actionable insights. Each platform will bring you more than simple news aggregation, as they’re all known for providing contextual analysis, expert commentary, and market sentiment tracking that helps professionals understand the broader implications of financial events.
• Analytics tools: They’re also all equipped with advanced analytical features that support complex financial workflows. Each platform offers sophisticated modeling capabilities, including scenario analysis, financial projection tools, and advanced visualization features that enable data-driven decision-making.

Key Differences:

• User interface and experience: Each platform has a distinct design philosophy that caters to different user preferences. Capital IQ offers a more traditional financial analyst interface, FactSet provides a highly customizable workflow environment, while Refinitiv focuses on intuitive, data-rich visualizations.
• Data coverage and depth: Each platform has nuanced variations in global market and company-level data availability. Individually, they have unique strengths in specific markets, with variations in depth of coverage across different regions and asset classes.
• Analytics capabilities: They also all have their own unique strengths in specific analytical tools and modeling features. Capital IQ excels in detailed company analysis, FactSet offers superior portfolio management tools, and Refinitiv provides advanced risk and compliance analytics.
• Pricing and licensing models: Each platform offers diverse pricing structures that reflect its unique value proposition. Pricing varies based on user count, data depth, and specific feature requirements.

Choosing the Right Platform for Your Financial Data Needs

When selecting a financial data provider, it’s important to consider the following comprehensive factors:

Specific Needs and Requirements

To figure out which financial data platform is best for your professional needs and your institution’s interests, start by thoroughly assessing your team’s unique analytical and research demands. Then, consider the specific industries you work in, the types of financial analysis you perform, and the depth of data required for your workflows. 

Budget Constraints

Next, evaluate the total cost of ownership beyond each platform’s initial subscription fees. Consider factors like implementation costs, training requirements, potential productivity gains, and the platform’s long-term scalability. This will ensure that you invest wisely based on your institution’s present and future needs.

Team Expertise and Preferences

Lastly, you’ll want to take the time to assess your team’s technological capabilities and learning adaptability. Consider the training resources available, the intuitiveness of each platform’s interface, and the potential learning curve for your specific team. It’s essential that all team members are able to learn and utilize your chosen platform to its fullest potential for the best possible results.

Final Thoughts on Financial Data Providers

Selecting the right financial data provider is a critical decision that can significantly impact your team’s productivity and analytical capabilities. Capital IQ, FactSet, and Refinitiv each offer unique strengths and can provide valuable insights for financial professionals. Remember that your choice will come down to the unique needs of your institution and team and which features and capabilities suit them best.

For those looking to deepen their financial knowledge and skills, the Corporate Finance Institute (CFI) offers comprehensive courses and resources to help you leverage these powerful financial tools effectively. Browse CFI’s course catalog to learn more.