WordsAnalytics: Fully Leverage Your SEC Filings Search
Jinfo Blog

By Perrin Kerravala

Abstract

Author Perrin Kerravala outlines the frustrating experience of searching for information with most SEC filings search tools, and explains how WordsAnalytics, a text-mining tool, can help.

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Readers in the financial and corporate sectors know that SEC filings are a great source of company and competitive intelligence.

Capturing information such as company history and current operations, as well as original legal documents like articles of incorporation and takeover agreements, SEC filings can be used for legal or transaction due diligence, marketing, and dozens of other purposes.

SEC Search Challenge

However, finding valuable information within SEC filings can be a painful experience.

The documents can be lengthy, with non-material paragraphs like legal disclaimers. Simple CTRL-F searches within single documents are often ineffective and time-consuming.

Free tools like EDGAR have frustrating limitations, hampering the ability of researchers to get the most out of SEC filings.

Getting the Most out of SEC Filings

To fully leverage SEC filings, researchers can use WordsAnalytics, a powerful text mining tool for SEC filings.

Equipped with standard full-text searching features such as Boolean capabilities, WordsAnalytics has all the tools required to search for complex phrases and concepts.

Unique Features

Further, WordsAnalytics also offers several unique, advanced features that make it stand out from simple full-text search tools.

These include:

• Over 40 helpful filters to screen documents based on descriptive information, such as company location or stock exchange, and quantitative information such as financial statements datapoints

• WordsAnalytics Sentiment Scores, which flag readers to paragraphs that have significant positive or negative tone, or even overly bureaucratic tone ("Legalese")

• A library of over 1,000 pre-programmed search strings that allow users to immediately search complex issues without having to write lengthy search strings. These can also be modified to allow for even more specific searching

• The ability to compare reports or even single paragraphs in periodic reports like 10Qs and 10Ks, allowing users to quickly identify changes between reporting periods.

WordsAnalytics is a powerful tool that is affordably priced, so that any size firm can advantage. Interested readers can obtain a one-week free trial to test it out.

Editor's Note

FreePint Subscribers can log in to read and share more in the Mini Review: WordsAnalytics.

The FreePint Topic Series: What You Need to Know Your Customer (KYC) runs from July-September 2014 and takes a deeper, focused look at one element of compliance: the many tools, approaches and critical elements to KYC regulations. Registration includes a free copy of the FreePint Report: Buyer's Guide on KYC.

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