Introduction to Capital IQ (2024)

1. Searching for data on one specific company
2. Screening for a list of companies
3. Searching for data for a list of companies
4. Screening for a list of transactions or people
5. Using your own list of companies for a screen
6. Further support

Note: this guide is written for the legacy version of Capital IQ. If you find yourself in Capital IQ Pro, return by clicking the ‘Tools’ menu then ‘S&P Capital IQ Platform’. See Accessing Capital IQ (web version) for details.

See Also

Morgan Stanley Summer Internship 2023: Ace the Online TestsCapital.com Review 2024: Pros & ConsHow to make sense of Wall Street analyst ratings | Public.comWhere Can I Find Historical Stock/Index Quotes?

S&P Capital IQ combines deep global company information, credit ratings and market research with tools for risk assessments. It provides access to both real-time and historical information on companies, markets, transactions and people worldwide. We often recommend it for finding worldwide private company data, or quoted company data for those who cannot access Datastream, Compustat or Thomson ONE.

See also Accessing Capital IQ (web version) on Library Help.

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Using the search box

The search box at the top of the page lets you find companies by typing part of their name. (You can also use an identifier code such as ISIN.)

Steps to do a simple search:

1. Click in the search box at the top of the page.
2. Type ‘boots’ and click the correct match from the shortlist below the search box of ‘Boots UK Limited’.
3. You are taken to the ‘Tearsheet’ (overview) company profile page.
4. If the company you want does not appear in the shortlist when you type its name, click the magnifying lens icon and select the company from the ‘Search Profiles’ results page.

Using the company pages

There are many company pages such as ‘Tearsheet’, ‘Filings’ and ‘Competitors’. Each box has a link to view more details on a specific page such as financial information, ownership and directors.

Note: The ‘Tearsheet’ is an overview page comprising many small boxes with key summary information about that company.

The information available varies. Coverage is best for active, quoted companies in mature markets such as western Europe and North America. Information can be quite limited for private companies, especially in emerging markets. De-listed or inactive companies are also available, as are profile pages on company directors and other board members. If you want to collect data on multiple companies at once, you will need to perform a screen (see section 2).

Demonstration: Find the balance sheet for Costa Coffee

Steps to find the balance sheet:

1. Type ‘costa coffee’ in the search bar and click the magnifying lens icon.
2. On the ‘Search Profiles’ page, click on ‘Costa Ltd. (Costa Coffee)’ to select the correct company.
3. On the ‘Tearsheet’ overview company profile page, scroll to the box labelled ‘Financial Information (Currency: GBP, in mm)’ and click ‘View Financials’.
4. On the ‘Company Financials’ page, click the ‘Balance Sheet’ tab.
5. Use the controls to change period or currency then click the ‘Download Financials’ button to export to Excel.

Activity 1: Find the income statement for Vodafone Group Plc

Repeat the steps above but search for the income statements of Vodafone instead.

• What changes do you have to make to search for a different company?
• What changes for income statements instead of balance sheets?
• What differences are there for a quoted company instead of a private one?

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You can use a ‘screen’ to create a list of companies (or people or transactions). The general approach in Capital IQ is similar to other similar databases:

1. Start with the ‘universe’ or complete set of all companies in Capital IQ.
2. Add criteria to reduce the search down to a manageable size.
3. Add display columns for the various datatypes you need.

Your screen can be saved and run again another time. Results can be exported to Excel.

Note: if you run a screen again another day, the results will be updated and the companies returned may be different; if you create a ‘Watch List’, the companies in it will not change.

Demonstration: Screen for UK banks

Launch the screening tool, add criteria then view the results.

Steps to add the first criterion:

1. On the main horizontal navigation menu, move the mouse cursor over ‘Screening’ then move it down and click on ‘Companies’.
2. The ‘Company Screening’ page loads. There are four columns of ‘Criteria’ which can be selected and a ‘Search’ box above which lets you type the name or the value of the criterion.
   Click in the ‘Search’ box and type ‘united kingdom’ then click the first match which includes the category name ‘Company Details > Geographic Locations’.
3. Click the ‘Add to Screen’ button on the right.

There are over 1,000,000 results. You will need to add more criteria before you can proceed.

Steps to add the remaining criteria and view results:

1. This time we will select a criteria from one of the four columns. In the first column, scroll to ‘Company Details’ and click on ‘Industry Classifications’.
2. A tree of industries is shown. Click on the small ‘+’ icon next to ‘Financials’ to expand it, then tick ‘Banks’ and click the ‘Add Criteria’ button at the bottom right.
3. The industry criterion has automatically moved to the top of the list because it has a much smaller number of results. The geography criterion you added earlier now appears second in the list. There are approximately 1,000 results and a preview appears on the right. Click the ‘View Results’ button to continue.
4. The ‘Screening Results’ page includes default columns of company names plus each of the search criteria. (Optionally, you can click the ‘Save as New Screen’ button at the top-right if you want to reuse the screening criteria later.)

Activity 1: Screen for US semiconductor manufacturers

Repeat the steps above but screen for the companies in the United States where the primary industry involves semiconductors. There should be about 2,100 companies.

• Did you see an option to use SIC industry classifications instead?
• Did you see a search box within the criteria search?
• Did you see a tick box to exclude a criterion from the search?

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You can add ‘display’ data columns, that is, columns which do not modify the search criteria (they do not limit which companies are returned). You can search for them or browse through the same categories as the criteria.

Demonstration: Search for balance sheet items in a screen

Steps to search for a single display column to add to your screen results:

1. Continue from your previous company screen; this demonstration uses UK banks but you could use US companies.
2. Click the tab ‘Customize Display Columns’. Similar to criteria, you can search or browse all the variables. This time, we will do a quick search.
3. Click in the ‘Search’ box, type ‘Net Debt’ and select a match with an appropriate category name ‘CIQ Financial Statements > Balance Sheet’.
4. You must select or type the period (annual or quarterly, calendar or fiscal year). For fiscal year 2018, type ‘FY ’ and click on ‘FY 2018’.
5. The column is ready, click ‘Add to Screen’ to add it.

Steps to browse for a date range of columns (in a specific currency) to add to your screen results:

1. In your screening results, click the tab ‘Customize Display Columns’. Similar to criteria, you can search or browse all the variables. This time, we will browse for a variable and modify it.
2. Click the ‘Browse All Display Columns’ blue link (highlighted in red in the first image above).
3. Several light grey boxes will appear. In the ‘Financial Information’ box, click ‘Financial Statements’.
4. You can browse or search for all available financial statement items. Click the ‘+’ icons to expand ‘CIQ Financial Statements’ then ‘Income Statement’ and click ‘Total Revenue’.
5. Select a range of fiscal years: In the ‘Display Range’ section, click the second choice and change the drop-down box value from ‘CY’ to ‘FY’, change the ‘From’ year to 2011 and the ‘To’ year to 2019.
6. Set the currency: Click the ‘+’ left of ‘Currency Options’ to expand the ‘Currency’ list, change it from ‘US Dollar’ to ‘British Pound’.
7. Click the ‘Add Columns’ button when you are ready. The new columns appear after the net debt column we added earlier.
8. Click the ‘View Results’ button to see the results for all columns (you will have to scroll right to see them all). There should be about 1,000 results.

Step to export to Excel:

1. To export to Excel, click the ‘Go’ button right of the Excel icon. You are limited to the first 10,000 results. If you need to export more than that, you must break up your screen into smaller chunks, export each then reassemble.

Activity 2: Search for income statement items in a screen

For your screen of US semiconductors, add display columns for the total assets from 2015 to 2019, plus the primary industry (hint: general business details).

Note: Financial data is available for the last ten years. If you need to go back further, you will need to extend your data set using the Capital IQ Excel add-in. Using Excel goes beyond the scope of this post, however, we recommend you add the ‘Excel Company ID’ display column as part of your initial data set to allow for accurate company matching later.

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You can screen for transactions or people in a similar way to companies. There are some differences such as the selection of items or ‘details’ available but the items are arranged in the same four columns: company, equity, person, transaction. The transactions column starts with some details common to all deals types; it follows with details specific to each such as mergers and acquisitions (M&A), buyback and public offerings.

A brief overview of people screening

People screening allows you to search for individuals based on their current and previous professional positions. You can combine criteria about the person (such as their board position) with criteria about companies (such as their location or trade). The results will be a list of people.

Here is an overview of the steps to screen for people, in general:

1. On the main horizontal navigation menu, move the mouse cursor over ‘Screening’ then move it down and click on ‘People’.
2. Search or browse for criteria, just as you did in a company screen. For example, look at the ‘Employment/Board’ group.
3. When you have chosen all your criteria, click the ‘View Results’ button.

You can customise the display columns and export to Excel, just as you did in a company screen.

Demonstration: Screen for UK M&A deals in 2019

Transaction screening allows you to search for deals such as mergers and acquisitions (M&A), buyback and public offerings. You can include search criteria about the target, issuer or acquirer company, where appropriate. The results will be a list of transactions.

Steps to screen for transactions:

1. On the main horizontal navigation menu, move the mouse cursor over ‘Screening’ then move it down and click on ‘Transactions’.
2. The ‘Transaction Screening’ page loads. The transaction details are in the fourth column, general details first then more specific below.
3. Start to add the data criteria. In the ‘M&A Details’ group click ‘Dates’ and select ‘M&A’ > ‘Announced Date’.
4. In the ‘Time Frame’ section, select the range option, enter the dates from ‘01/01/2019’ to ‘12/31/2019’ (MM/DD/YYYY).
5. Click the ‘Add Criteria’ button to finish adding the date criterion.
6. Start to add the location criteria for the target company. In the first column group click ‘Geographic Locations’, browse or search for the United Kingdom.
7. Look for the extra bit at bottom to make sure that ‘This criterion describes:’ is set to ‘Target/Issuer’.
8. Click the ‘Add Criteria’ button to finish adding the location criterion.
9. Click the ‘View Results’ button. There should be about 5,000 results.

Activity 3: Screen for Japan IPOs in 2019

Repeat the steps above but screen for initial public offerings in Japanese companies in 2019. There should be about 94 IPO results (out of about 800 public offerings).

• What groups of transactions details will you use?
• Did you see a group specifically about public offerings details?
• How could you limit the transaction primary feature to ‘Public Offering — IPO’?

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If you already have a list of companies from another database, you can create a ‘Watch List’ to use in a screen, then add display columns of Capital IQ data. Creating a list saves you from adding all the companies individually. You will need a plain text file with a single column of companies, identified by CIQ ID, ISIN or CUSIP code types.

Note: It is possible to use GVKEY codes. You will need to insert ‘GV_’ to the start of each code. It is also possible to ‘fuzzy match’ company names using the Capital IQ Excel add-in; that is beyond the scope of this post.

Demonstration: Upload a list of companies with most women managers

Given a list of companies identified by ISIN code, create a watch list in Capital IQ that you could use in a company screen. These companies were at the top of a search in Eikon for highest proportion of women managers (May 2020).

ISIN CODE, COMPANY NAME
GB0009292243, Victrex PLC
AU0000031767, City Chic Collective Ltd
EGS69101C011, EFG Hermes Holdings SAE
TW0002303005, United Microelectronics Corp
CA7397211086, Prairiesky Royalty Ltd
ES0148396007, Industria de Diseno Textil SA
AU000000PMV2, Premier Investments Ltd
AU000000LOV7, Lovisa Holdings Ltd
AU000000SRV5, Servcorp Ltd
FR0013153541, Maisons du Monde SA

Steps to create a watch list for screening:

1. Copy and paste the list of ISIN Codes above into your preferred text editor or Microsoft Excel. Delete everything except the codes and save a text file. (In Excel, this is ‘Text (Tab delimited) (*.txt)’).
2. On the main horizontal navigation menu of Capital IQ, move the mouse cursor over ‘My Capital IQ’ then move it down to ‘Watch Lists /’ and click on ‘Create’.
3. When asked to type a ‘Watch List Name’, type ‘top women managers’ and click the ‘Create’ button.
4. The ‘Edit Watch List’ page will load. Click to expand the ‘Upload a List (*.txt/*.xls/*.csv)’ box then drag your text file into the space. (Alternatively, you can copy and paste codes into the search box above it.)
5. Wait for the results to load then click the ‘Save’ button.
6. This list can be viewed or edited later by clicking on ‘Watch Lists’ or ‘My Watch Lists’ in the menus.
7. To use the list in a Company Screening, start a new screen (as above). For the search criteria, type ‘watch lists’ in the search box then click the ‘Open Criterion’ button. Select your list and click the ‘Add Criteria’ button.

Activity 4: Upload a list of companies using the most recycled water

Given a list of companies identified by ISIN Code, use the steps above to create a watch list in Capital IQ that you could use in a company screen. These companies were at the top of a search in Eikon for highest proportion of recycled water (May 2020).

ISIN CODE, COMPANY NAME
RU0007661625, Gazprom PAO
RU000A0JPNM1, Inter RAO YEES PAO
JP3381000003, Nippon Steel Corp
DE000BASF111, BASF SE
RU0009046510, Severstal' PAO
RU0009046452, Novolipetsk Steel PAO
JP3386030005, JFE Holdings Inc
CNE1000000T0, Aluminum Corp of China Ltd
NL0010877643, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV
RU000A0J2Q06, NK Rosneft' PAO

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• Capital IQ website includes financial data for the last ten years. If you need to go back further, consider requesting to use the Capital IQ Excel add-in or a different database.
• See our post Getting help in Capital IQ for details about help offered on the Capital IQ website including documentation, videos, webinars and their help desk. We have other Capital IQ questions on Library Help.
• We have some old blog posts on Business Research Plus about Capital IQ, such as Extending your Excel worksheet formulas via Python, for Capital IQ and From ISIN codes to Compustat (via Capital IQ using GVKEY, CUSIP and Name).
• Specialist Library Support — workshops and online tutorials

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