There’s a clear shortage of fundamental data services for private investors who want reliable information on global markets at a reasonable price. So I’m glad to see that Stockopedia has now added US stocks to its UK and European coverage.
For those who haven’t yet come across Stockopedia, the site provides a huge range of valuation measures and screening tools, including screens based on popular strategies and the styles of notable investing. The underlying fundamental information comes from Thomson Reuters, but all valuation metrics are calculated in-house.
This may not sound like a big deal, but ensuring that financial statistics are calculated in a consistent, accurate and meaningful way across an entire dataset is more difficult than it sounds. Stockopedia’s data quality is superior to any other website that I’ve seen and in some respects seems better than the high-end professional services from Reuters and Bloomberg.
While data quality is the most important factor with a product like this, the design of the user interface is strikingly good as well. In contrast to many finance and investing sites, a lot of thought has clearly gone into displaying information clearly and making features easy to find and use.
At the same time, pricing remains competitive and within the budget of many individual investors. The cost ranges from £200/year for UK stocks up to £600/year for the combined UK, US and Europe package. Discounts are available for longer-term subscriptions, while month-by-month billing is also available at a higher price.
While Stockopedia isn’t the only option for international fundamental data – others include Morningstar.com and Screener.co, plus Metastock Xenith for those with deep pockets (see this article for a few more suggestions) – it certainly shows the most promise currently in terms of combining cost, quality and affordability.
Coverage of other regions such as Asia will hopefully be rolled out over the next year or so, and once that happens it could become the outstanding choice for internationally focused investors everywhere. In the meantime, if European and US coverage is what you’re looking for, I’d strongly recommend taking a closer look.