Wikinvest Launches Wiki for Financial Data

Market Wire, April, 2008

Wikinvest, the stock research wiki, today announced the launch of Wikidata, bringing a new depth of investing insight, for free, to the general public. Wikidata applies the same principles behind Wikinvest -- making quality investment information available to everyone -- to financial data previously available only through expensive subscriptions or in dense regulatory filings.

"Historically, individual investors have been limited to a tiny subset of the tools commonly available to professional investors," explained co-founder Michael Sha. "At Wikinvest, our mission is to level the playing field and make these tools and data available for anyone who wants to use them. With Wikidata, we're freeing the data -- providing access to important information that most investors have been deprived of because it's been too costly or time-prohibitive for people who don't want to wade through reams of regulatory filings or pay thousands of dollars for proprietary research."

While traditional finance portals typically provide basic financial statistics (such as earnings-per-share and price-to-earnings ratios) found on a company's balance sheet, income statement or cash flow statement, these finance-oriented statistics only paint part of the picture about a company. The important data that's missing are the operating metrics that are specific to a company or industry.

For example, the accepted expense metrics for the airline industry are fuel- and non-fuel costs per seat mile. If you look at Southwest Airlines (NYSE: LUV), you'll see that their costs are dramatically lower, which explains why they have been profitable since 1973 -- a record unmatched in commercial aviation history.

These types of metrics, which vary by industry, can be found in publicly available filings, but collating them in a way that lets investors easily view data about a company or compare companies in an industry takes an incredible amount of effort. In the past, research companies have developed expensive subscription services to make the data more easily accessible, even though the data is publicly available. But with the launch of Wikidata, visitors can view all the data on a particular company, an entire industry, or a particular metric, easily and for free.

Examples of Industry Metrics Available With Wikidata

--  Home Construction data shows that inventory (unsold houses) and
    cancellations have soared with the recent mortgage crisis, while the number
    of new signed contracts has plummeted.

--  Airlines data shows that Southwest's Cost per Available Seat Mile (the
    cost to fly one passenger one mile) and Fuel Costs per Gallon are
    dramatically lower than those of its competitors, which explains why
    Southwest has been profitable since 1973 - a record unmatched in commercial
    aviation history.

--  Newspaper industry data shows you which newspaper companies have
    rising or falling circulation, the total amount of newsprint purchased each
    year, and advertising volume in inches.

--  Investment Bank data shows which banks own the most Mortgage Backed
    Securities, important to gauge vulnerability to mortgage-related losses.

--  Brokerage firms track the number of revenue-generating trades placed
    by clients (known at Daily Average Revenue Trades or DARTS) and the total
    interest spread earned on cash in client brokerage accounts. Seeing
    E*TRADE's reliance on interest spread for its earnings explains why it is
    so much more vulnerable to recent turmoil in the credit market than its
    competitors.
    

As part of launching Wikidata, Wikinvest has seeded data on over 1,000 companies, and plans to add thousands more, industry by industry, over the next few months. The first industries to be included are Casualty & Property Insurance, Regional Banks, Home Construction, Hotels, Oil Majors, Independent Oil Companies, Airlines, Investment Banks, Railroads, Restaurants, Oil & Gas Drilling, Oil and Gas Pipelines, Department Stores, Grocery Stores, PC Manufacturers, Discount Stores, Electric Utilities, Diversified Utilities, Gas Utilities, Water Utilities, Newspapers, Application Software, Online Retailers, Oil Transportation, Internet.

Wikinvest expects the site to be populated with data from more than 4,000 companies in 150 industries by the third quarter of 2008.

How does Wikidata work?

--  User-curated data. Users can update data points when more recent data
    becomes available, (for example, following quarterly earnings
    announcements).

--  Footnoting / references. All added data points must be accompanied by
    a link to a reputable source - such as a company SEC filing.

--  Strong revision control. All changes are logged for review, and any
    change can be easily undone by someone at Wikinvest or by members of the
    community.

--  Single source for data. Change a data point anywhere on Wikinvest, and
    the data updates everywhere on the site.
    

Additional Site Features

Companies

Wikinvest divides company coverage into "Neutral," "Bull," and "Bear" perspectives so that investors can understand the range of arguments for and against investing in a particular stock. In addition, the site offers insights into movements in stock prices -- an ongoing frustration for individual investors who have limited research tools available to them.