CapIQ

What is CapIQ?

CapIQ (short for Capital IQ) is a market intelligence platform designed by Standard & Poor’s (S&P).  The platform is widely used in many areas of corporate finance, including investment bankingJobsBrowse job descriptions: requirements and skills for job postings in investment banking, equity research, treasury, FP&A, corporate finance, accounting and other areas of finance. These job descriptions have been compiled by taking the most common lists of skills, requirement, education, experience and other, equity researchEquity Research OverviewEquity research professionals are responsible for producing analysis, recommendations, and reports on investment opportunities that investment banks, institutions, or their clients may be interested in.  The Equity Research Division is a group of analysts and associates. This equity research overview guide, asset management, and more.

The Capital IQ platform provides research, data, and analysis on private and public companies to help finance professionals perform an analysis.  This analysis may support transactions such as mergers and acquisitionsMergers Acquisitions M&A ProcessThis guide takes you through all the steps in the M&A process. Learn how mergers and acquisitions and deals are completed. In this guide, we'll outline the acquisition process from start to finish, the various types of acquirers (strategic vs. financial buys), the importance of synergies, and transaction costs, as well as investment recommendations, such as those made by equity research.

CapIQ is used extensively in financial modelingWhat is Financial ModelingFinancial modeling is performed in Excel to forecast a company's financial performance. Overview of what is financial modeling, how & why to build a model..

What information does CapIQ provide?

Capital IQ provides a wide range of information and data for its clients.  The main categories of information provided by CapIQ include:

• Real-time market data (i.e., stock prices)
• Financial information (financial statements)
• Valuation (financial modelingWhat is Financial ModelingFinancial modeling is performed in Excel to forecast a company's financial performance. Overview of what is financial modeling, how & why to build a model.)
• Research estimates (from sell-side equity research)
• Qualitative data (transcripts and other items)
• Global market data (international markets)
• News and events (press releases, analyst calls, etc)
• Fixed income information (prices, yields, etc)
• Credit ratings and research ratings
• Security pricing and valuation

What is CapIQ used for?

Capital IQ is broadly used by finance professionals for many aspects of their day to day jobs.  Some of the most common uses of CapIQ include:

• Research companies and industries (investment bankingInvestment Banking Career PathInvestment banking career guide - plan your IB career path. Learn about investment banking salaries, how to get hired, and what to do after a career in IB. The investment banking division (IBD) helps governments, corporations, and institutions raise capital and complete mergers and acquisitions (M&A)., equity research, and others)
• Develop investment targets and ideas (asset management and portfolio management)
• Build and update Excel models (financial modeling)
• Monitor companies and markets (equity researchEquity Research OverviewEquity research professionals are responsible for producing analysis, recommendations, and reports on investment opportunities that investment banks, institutions, or their clients may be interested in.  The Equity Research Division is a group of analysts and associates. This equity research overview guide and asset management)
• Quantitative research (hedge funds)
• Manage data and general analysis (broad use in corporate finance)
• Build and update presentations (investment banking)
• Analyze credit risk (commercial bankingCommercial Banking Career ProfileA Commercial Banking career path is providing clients with credit products such as term loans, revolving lines of credit, syndicated facilities)
• Manage risk & exposure (risk management)

Benefits of using CapIQ

Capital IQ can save you lots of time.  As a financial analyst, it’s critical to get an analysis done as efficiently as possible, and time is of the essence.  Instead of manually downloading an annual report, 10-K10-KForm 10-K is a detailed annual report that is required to be submitted to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The filing provides a comprehensive summary of a company’s performance for the year. It is more detailed than the annual report that is sent to shareholders, or 10-Q  from EDGARUS - EDGAREDGAR is a database where U.S. public companies file regulatory documents such as annual reports, quarterly reports, 10-K, 10-Q, prospectus and then manually inputting that information into Excel, it can be much faster to query the data in CapIQ.

Excel plugin

Capital IQ has an Excel plugin that allows you to embed data queries from their database directly into your spreadsheets and formulas.  You can pull information such as revenue, EBITDAEBITDAEBITDA or Earnings Before Interest, Tax, Depreciation, Amortization is a company's profits before any of these net deductions are made. EBITDA focuses on the operating decisions of a business because it looks at the business’ profitability from core operations before the impact of capital structure. Formula, examples, EPSEarnings Per Share Formula (EPS)EPS is a financial ratio, which divides net earnings available to common shareholders by the average outstanding shares over a certain period of time. The EPS formula indicates a company’s ability to produce net profits for common shareholders., individual analyst estimates, IBES estimatesIBES EstimatesIBES (also known as I/B/E/S) stands for Institutional Broker’s Estimate System, a database that was created by the Lynch, Jones, and Ryan brokerage. This system basically compiles the analysis and forecasted future earnings of publicly traded companies. With the help of this database, users can see the different predictions, along with the forecasts of analysts., share prices, balance sheet items, cash flow items, and much more.

Dynamic presentations

CapIQ also has a PowerPoint plugin which enables you to create charts, graphs, and tables that automatically update without having to copy and paste each time you need to refresh or change information.  This can be a huge time saver for financial analysts who often spend a great deal of time moving back and forth between ExcelExcel ResourcesLearn Excel online with 100's of free Excel tutorials, resources, guides & cheat sheets! CFI's resources are the best way to learn Excel on your own terms. and PowerPoint.

Use in financial modeling

Capital IQ is a powerful tool for financial modeling professionals.   By incorporating CapIQ’s Excel Plugin with a traditional Excel workbook, analysts can create much more dynamic financial modelsWhat is a Financial Model?A financial model is a representation of a company’s past and future performance based on it's assets & operations. Find out: what is a financial model?, and build them faster.  By incorporating historical company information, combined with equity analysts’ forecasts, it can automate a large part of the financial model building process.  CapIQ also offers bespoke templates for the clients, where they can create industry-specific and company-specific models for them.

More financial modeling resources

If your career goal is to be a world-class financial analystThe Analyst Trifecta® GuideThe ultimate guide on how to be a world-class financial analyst. Do you want to be a world-class financial analyst?  Are you looking to follow industry-leading best practices and stand out from the crowd? Our process, called The Analyst Trifecta® consists of analytics, presentation & soft skills and perform industry-leading analysis, then the CapIQ platform will likely become a part of your daily life.

If you’re looking to break into a career in investment banking, equity research, FP&AJobsBrowse job descriptions: requirements and skills for job postings in investment banking, equity research, treasury, FP&A, corporate finance, accounting and other areas of finance. These job descriptions have been compiled by taking the most common lists of skills, requirement, education, experience and other, Treasury, or other areas of corporate finance, then our financial modeling courses are a great place to start.

Additional free CFI resources include:

• Guide to financial modelingFree Financial Modeling GuideThis financial modeling guide covers Excel tips and best practices on assumptions, drivers, forecasting, linking the three statements, DCF analysis, more
• Types of financial modelsTypes of Financial ModelsThe most common types of financial models include: 3 statement model, DCF model, M&A model, LBO model, budget model. Discover the top 10 types
• Financial modeling skillsFinancial Modeling SkillsLearn the 10 most important financial modeling skills and what's required to be good at financial modeling in Excel. Most important skills: accounting
• Accounting courses
• Excel ResourcesTemplatesFree business templates to use in your personal or professional life. Templates include Excel, Word, and PowerPoint. These can be used for transactions,