Getting data on foreign stocks is much more awkward than you’d expect. That’s because most data providers catering to individual investor still focus on just one or two countries, rather than offering a global service.
While you can usually find a data service for each international market, it’s hard to get them all in one account. This is a real inconvenience, since most investors don’t want 30 separate data accounts, many of which they’ll use only once a year.
Institutional investors can get all-in-one global price and fundamental data from firms such as Bloomberg, Thomson Reuters, Capital IQ and Factset. These offer the most comprehensive data feeds available.
Unfortunately, they don’t cater to private investors. While they don’t quote subscription fees openly because it’s subject to a lot of negotiation, a informal survey of users suggests a typical rate of $1,000-2,000 per user per month.
The good news is that there are providers that cater to investors with smaller budgets. The bad news is that still seems to be a gap in the market for sensibly priced but reasonably comprehensive data. Either you get less data than you ideally want or you pay through the nose for more than you need.
But there are a few resources and providers that are useful to international investors. A few of them are even free. So let’s take a look at what’s available.