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S&P Capital IQ

Score8.2 out of 10

91 Reviews and Ratings

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What is S&P Capital IQ?

Capital IQ is a market intelligence software solution offered by S&P Global Market Intelligence, which is the result of McGraw Hill Financial's acquisition of SNL Financial.

Categories & Use Cases

Key Features

Learn about the best (and worst!) features S&P Capital IQ has to offer, as determined by TrustRadius' reviewers.
Based on 91 ratings of S&P Capital IQ's features
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Top Performing Features

  • Independent Research Access

    The ability to access third-party analyses, e.g., Morningstar reports

    Category average: 8.2

  • Industry-Specific Information

    The quality and completeness of industry-specific information, e.g., the progress or success of clinical trials in the pharmaceutical industry

    Category average: 7.4

  • Credit Ratings Reports

    The quality and completeness of information on corporate credit ratings

    Category average: 6.9

Areas for Improvement

  • ESG Data

    The quality and completeness of data on Environmental, Social, and Governance practices

    Category average: 6.1

  • M&A Analysis

    The quality and completeness of mergers and acquisitions filings, news, rumors, etc.

    Category average: 5.9

  • Supply Chain Data

    The quality and completeness of information on how a company sources its materials and other production resources

    Category average: 6.5

Reviews

What users are saying about S&P Capital IQ.
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Must-have for financial analysis and research, great tool that continues to get better

Incentivized
Verified User
Director in Professional Services (1001-5000 employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

The S&P Capital IQ data and research platform are utilized for on-demand financial data from public companies. The data is critical for benchmarking and other analytics. The platform is also extremely useful in learning about industries, current trends, and outlook, and helps us get up to speed quickly when looking to approach a new prospect with potential solutions.

Pros

  • On-demand reliable financial data either through the platform or through the Excel Plug-In
  • Great user interface, intuitive to use
  • Great help desk function, quick and responsive
  • Excellent auditability of financial data with easy traceback to source documents

Cons

  • Speed of data refresh / platform itself - loading data can sometimes be slow
  • More integration with data visualization tools, and templates with data visualization tools (e.g. Power BI)
  • More on-demand trainings for new users who aren't familiar with the platform

Return on Investment

  • Public company and market financial data used on virtually all client engagements
  • Ability to easily trace back to source documents allows for robust documentation required for analyses
  • Excel plug in allows for integration into independent analytics performed on virtually all client engagements

Usability

Alternatives Considered

Bloomberg Terminal, AlphaSense and Thomson Reuters ONESOURCE

Other Software Used

AlphaSense, Microsoft Power BI, Microsoft Excel

CIQ Review

Incentivized
Verified User
Employee in Finance and Accounting (10,001+ employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Leverage CIQ to pull market data

Pros

  • Data is usually reliable
  • Plug-in works well
  • Lots of data available

Cons

  • CIQ Pro (SNL) is extremely slow to open
  • CIQ Pro (SNL) is generally slow to navigate
  • CIQ Pro (SNL) is not as intuitive as old CIQ

Return on Investment

  • Able to pull market data in excel
  • Able to access broker research
  • Able to access historical data

Usability

Alternatives Considered

Bloomberg Terminal

Other Software Used

Bloomberg Terminal, AlphaSense

Decent Product, but I think S&P Capital IQ Customer Service Leaves Something to be Desired

Incentivized
Verified User
Analyst in Corporate (10,001+ employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

My firm uses S&P Capital IQ primarily as a centralized source of financial information that can be incoporated into various business models. We use it for market analysis, competitive analysis, assessing supplier and customer financial health, and business planning. S&P Capital IQ offers more features for financial professionals who are tracking market movements, but those are of less relevance to my work.

Pros

  • Good source of financial data
  • Intuitive interface
  • Easy to download data and access through an Excel plug-in
  • Good firm and industry coverage

Cons

  • In my experience, customer service is really lacking. Account manager has been a ghost
  • In my opinion, S&P support staff not empowered to solve problems. They don't think about issues, just look at the handbook. It's like talking to a wall at times
  • Base set of features in the account is ok, though be prepared to pay for any additional features such as market reseatch reports

Return on Investment

  • It enables us to perform more in-depth analysis of firm's who we might be interested in working with
  • Enables us to assess how well are competitors are doing at a very high-level
  • Can view who is investing in what types of firms

Usability

Alternatives Considered

FactSet and LSEG Eikon

Other Software Used

AlphaSense, PitchBook, FactSet

The S&P Capital IQ blackline tool compares corporate filings over time

Incentivized
Verified User
Administrator in Information Technology (10,001+ employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

In order to do analytics and research, the S&P Capital IQ platform provides a smart, potent financial data resource. It is a web-based platform with built-in tools for research and other important choices, combining extensive financial data and economic activity on firms and marketplaces throughout the world. It is the market leader since it is a cross-segment platform that can be used for everything from collecting basic company data to creating intricate reports using its deep data capabilities.

Pros

  • Plugins that change and analyze analysis improve it.
  • Capital IQ is user-driven, unlike other market participants, which helps streamline the dashboard and acquire accurate data.
  • Any report or analysis delivers the most in fewest words. In this data-driven world.

Cons

  • The scope and depth of the collected data can be increased.
  • The UI with little icons and buttons may be difficult at first but may become intuitive. The UI isn't horrible but might be better.
  • Global data coverage, but US and UK markets have the greatest details. MENA and APAC lack.

Most Important Features

  • S&P Capital IQ's quality and reliability saves my firm time.
  • Data visualization and analysis tools are integrated in.
  • Plug-ins based on specific requirements.

Return on Investment

  • The breadth and depth of the company's financial data set are what sets it apart as the finest in the industry.
  • Having the ability to pay the monthly fee online is a major benefit. Neither is it very high, but I wouldn't characterize it as low, either. It's quite economical.
  • Data quality and accuracy are what set it apart from competitors.

Alternatives Considered

Backstop

Other Software Used

DocuSign, Veeam Backup & Replication, Apify

A Must for Quality Analysis

Incentivized
Verified User
Analyst in Finance and Accounting (1001-5000 employees employees)

Pros

  • S&P Capital IQ's blackline tool allows for the effortless comparison of changes in company filings over time.
  • The screening tool when searching for comparable companies and/or transactions is very comprehensive and customizable.
  • It allows users to customize their dashboards and tearsheets in any number of ways.

Cons

  • S&P Capital IQ's add-in slows down my Excel when I incorporate formulas into it.
  • S&P Capital IQ's algorithms don't necessarily look in the footnotes of company filings, which can make for a less robust analysis of financials and multiples than desired.
  • The user interface is not very user-friendly and thus makes maximizing the software's features difficult. It could be more intuitive to use and not so busy (e.g. not so many small icons on one web page). The S&P Capital IQ support team, however, is always available and very helpful.

Return on Investment

  • S&P Capital IQ contributes to a more comprehensive analysis of companies when making decisions on how best to market them to potential buyers.
  • S&P Capital IQ has enabled my company to be more efficient in learning about and valuing companies.
  • Due to the quality and reliability of information S&P Capital IQ has, it is saving my company large amounts of time.