Alternative Data News and Insight

As the use of alternative data within the investment community grows more prevalent, this prompts questions on dataset crowding and its implications for alpha generation. While opinions may be divided on the significance of buy-side client numbers in evaluating a dataset, an analysis of dataset crowding serves as an interesting source of insight into the interplay between supply and demand for different data types. In the following analysis, we explore: (1) levels of dataset crowding across different dataset types, (2) supply and demand for four dataset types: web scraping, web & app tracking, ESG, and location, (3) the types of data that will be most valued by investors in the future.

Although alternative data providers are united on the front that mobile gaming is a steadily growing market, they are, however, divided on its exact size. In this Intelligence report, we historically compare predictions made by three mobile gaming data vendors, and take a closer look as to why there is such a divergence in their estimates.

The past years have seen an emergence of numerous providers offering either signal outputs or analytics tools that rely on Natural Language Processing. In this Neudata Intelligence piece, we introduce several basic tenants of NLP, a selection of ‘alt data’ applications, and finally ask – how can a prospective user evaluate such products in the pre-testing phase?

According to industry trends (both anecdotal and empirical), the Japanese alternative data landscape is generally seen to be at an earlier stage of development than its European and US counterparts. In the following piece, we shed some light on the state of the market by looking at (1) domestic demand for alternative data (2) challenges faced by local data providers, and (3) some unique sources of consumer spending data from this region.

The growing supply of alternative data sources that offer insights into the ESG practices of the firm provides investors with more opportunities to build their own ESG ratings methodology. One that is better suited to a fund’s mandates, investment goals and offers edge. But where to find the data?

We explore the relationship between pharmaceutical companies’ patent portfolios and their financial performance. We also discuss the significance of different patent indicators to financial metrics (e.g. sales, market value, ROI) through evaluating findings from several research studies. Finally, we suggest several alternative data providers who can provide analysts with such metrics.

There are many factors that impact the price of crude oil, such as production, imports/exports, and geopolitical events. However, it is widely accepted that inventory levels are one of the most crucial drivers of the asset’s price in the market. In this Intelligence report, we discuss whether crude oil storage estimates, specifically those obtained through satellites, can generate alpha to institutional investors interested in gaining an edge on pricing.

We highlight key findings from a research paper published by data science company that analyses an alternative provider of labour market data, covering the near-universe of online job vacancy postings. The paper analysed the potential of online job ads for: 1) predicting key US labor statistics, 2) forecasting stock returns and industry sales of the energy equipment and service sector, and 3) assessing the relationship between a firm’s online job postings growth and its operational and stock performance.

With Black Friday 2018 behind us, we look at some of the key insights that alternative data providers have derived from their e-receipt, advertising, and clickstream datasets. Based on these insights, we provide a round-up of some key takeaways, including the winners and losers of this year’s holiday period. Companies mentioned include, but are not limited to, Target, Amazon, Walmart, Costco, and Pandora.

In this Intelligence report, we highlight key findings from a backtest that was carried out by an alternative data provider earlier this year on their proprietary US corn production forecasts. We also compare the vendor's results to those observed by a competing US corn yield forecaster.