The only thing I often regret about being a part of the most significant investment bank is the information. Touching those blue and yellow Bloomberg terminals brought a unique experience I didn’t realize I’d be missing. Typing in “EE ” to present the consensus estimates for earnings in just a few seconds ” was a stamp of approval that only a seasoned Wall Streeter could achieve (and by experience, I’m referring to 12 months of college).
If you decide to become an independent consultant, you must be more innovative. If you don’t have the Bloomberg terminal for a cost exceeding $25,000, you must find out how to access the information. We asked the Toptal Finance consultants and found the top options for free Bloomberg Terminal alternatives.
Like the mosaic concept, you’ll need to put together the resources that are of the best quality for your needs. However, this list of no-cost Bloomberg terminal alternatives is an excellent starting point. Positively with these alternatives, if you use them instead of a Bloomberg terminal, you won’t have to use the unpopular B-Unit device to sign in.
Look at our selections below for the most accessible, top-quality sources for financial consultants. Please send us a message in the comment section at the bottom of this article to inform us of any gems we may not have included on the list.
Financial Modeling and Analysis Tools
Koyfin Koyfin HTML0 is an excellent free dashboard that looks and feels like FactSet. This includes macros security snapshots, financial analysis, estimates (EPS revenue, EBITDA), and graphs. In addition, the data is obtained from significantly top-quality data sets.
Atom Finance – It is similar to Koyfin in its user-friendly interface. The software has a calendar feature to keep track of essential business occasions, interactive valuation capabilities built on EPS, revenues, EBITDA consensus estimates, peer analysis, transcripts, and much more. It is possible to create financial models immediately, which are pre-populated with consensus projections, and adjust the calculations on the fly when you alter assumptions. The universe of businesses available is restricted.
Aswath Damadoran Aswath Damadoran Amalgamated data on a variety of metrics of financials (CapEx by industry, margins for each sector, and valuation ratios by industry).
Finviz Snapshot of the most basic financial information, such as dividends growth, sales growth, ratio of payout, ratings for sell-side, and price targets.
Ycharts are A bit like FactSet. It’s not exactly free, but you can sign up for a free trial.
Eloquens Free financial models as well as a variety of templates.
Yahoo Finance – Estimates of EPS and revenue.
Government filings (EDGAR) – Can access 10-Qs, S-1s, and any other documents filed publicly in the US government.
ImportXML Imports structured data from a variety of data points. Can scrape outside websites. Examples of how you can use the feature can be found here.
Google Finance This is not referring to the Google Finance website Google Finance (we prefer Yahoo Finance) instead. Still, the “coding tool” in Google Sheets allows you to import primary live data (pricing data).
Market Research Tools
ABI Research – High-quality. Sometimes, I can get free research. Subscribe to emails to receive more details.
IDC IDC IDC publishes parts of their annual reports for no cost.
Gartner The HTML0 Gartner has free webinars and typically gets more details than what’s on the internet in print.
Statista Statista HTML0 – Statistics on almost anything, including consumer survey results, industry studies from over 22,500 sources and more.
Markets are a great starting point and include research on specific industries.
Research and Markets – Similar to Markets and Markets.
TAM Workshop This brief guide explains the basics of market size and provides innovative resources to find information.
Market Sizing Tip: Sometimes, you may offer to purchase only a small portion of a market size report (or an entire table) for around 1/10th of the price of the whole piece.
Macro Data
Trading Economics – Macro data by country. It also includes forecasts. There is also the option to purchase a $49 one-week pass if you require more detailed information.
World Bank – The database covers a variety of subjects, with 19902 datasets in November 2019, from economic data to interest rate statistics and inflation FX rates and unemployment statistics, income statistics, population statistics, educational statistics, tax rates, etc.
BLS- US Government Bureau of Labor Statistics. It includes statistics such as CPI une,mployment rate, and regional data.
Investing.com – Data on bond yields, CDS.
VC/Startup Databases
Fundz Fundz Startup database that includes all the funded businesses across the US. A subscription of $40 or so can yield some valuable information.
Crunchbase Funding and investment information about private firms. Includes details on founding members, rounds, raises, etc. There are paid and free versions.
Information on IPOsProfessor Jay Ritter of the University of Florida manages this database containing information about underpricing, dual-classage, age price revision sales, underwriting, sales statistics for VC-backed IPOs, and more.
TechLeap European startup database with 5500+ startups.
Stock Research Reports
Morningstar can access research papers with an initial trial for free. Research is an excellent start, and they take their job seriously.
ValueInvestorsClub A selection of high-quality research is available here. This includes overviews of the company, history, and analysis.
SearchingAlpha – A few experts from the armchair and some research. They typically get snippets from research reports that are sold to the public.
Hope you’ve found our top-quality list of free resources for financial consultants to help you recreate a Bloomberg terminal of your own. If we’ve missed any free (or low-cost) Bloomberg terminal alternatives, please let us know via the comment section below.
