Compustat - Duke University



Compustat

HIGHLIGHTS

• Financial statistics on more than 7500 publicly held companies

• Dividend and earnings information, stock returns, and more

• Active and inactive (due to bankruptcy, merger, etc.) companies

HOW TO CONNECT

• Check out password from circulation desk

• Go to and click the link for Compustat via WRDSX

• Click "members login" on WRDSX page and enter login and password on the next page

• Click the Compustat link under Wharton Data Research Services

• You will see several links on the left side of the next page. Decide whether you want annual or quarterly data, and then choose the Industrial link under "Annual Updates" or "Quarterly Updates".

SEARCHING TIPS

1. Choose your date range under "Step One: Date Range" at the top of the page.

2. Under "Step Two: Search", search for your companies using ticker symbols (SMBL in the drop down box). You may enter more than one if you separate the symbols using a single space.

3. Choose your identifying variables under "Step Three: Variables". You may choose one or more of these variables just to help identify the statistics in your output file. I suggest you choose either ticker symbol or company name under the first box, "Identifying Information/Codes".

4. The third box under "Step Three: Variables" contains the two long scrolling lists reproduced here:

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5. You will need to select one or more data items from the left list. To find out what DATA1, DATA2, DATA3, etc. represent, choose the "Documentation" link to the right of the variables box. This link will provide a list of what data items are available.

6. Once you've selected your data items from the documentation list, use the back button on the browser to go back to the search screen. Go to the "Data Items" list and make your choices. Hold down the control key to select more than one item.

SAVING YOUR DATA

1. Under the final section on the page, "Step Four: Output", choose your output file format. Fixed-width text (*.txt), comma-delimited text (*.csv), and tab-delimited text (*.txt) can be opened in Excel.

2. If you're downloading large amounts of data, you may want to choose a compression type like .zip. You have the option to enter your email address in the final box, if you do not wish to wait for the data to load. The system will send you an email when your job is ready and a web link to access your results.

3. If you decide to wait, your data will load in a separate window. You may then choose File--Save As from the browser window to save your results as a text file (*.txt).

Paula Robinson, 07/01

Reference Librarian

Ford Library at the Fuqua School of Business

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