Compustat Preliminary History Data

Quarterly and annual preliminary data has historically been collected by Compustat from various sources, including the Wall Street Journal, press releases, newswires, and 8-K's. Subscribers to the Current Compustat Database are not able to view historical preliminary data because it is overwritten by finalized data filed with the SEC. Historical preliminary values, however, should be incorporated in backtests if using preliminary data to run live models.

The Charter Oak Preliminary History Add-On Database captures these preliminary values that were briefly populated in Current Compustat. The database includes annual and quarterly historical preliminary data from 1987 forward with weekly updates.

Percentage of Companies Reporting Preliminary Figures

The chart below illustrates the percentage of companies, quarter by quarter, with preliminary figures for Net Income or some component of the data. Since the beginning of 1987, the majority of the companies in the universes have reported some type of preliminary data over time, especially in the S&P 500.

Monthly Availability of Preliminary History Data

The chart below shows the monthly percentage of companies that contain preliminary Net Income - or some component of Net Income - that was available in the Current Compustat Database and could have been used in a backtest before the finalized data was released.

Since the majority of companies' fiscal year ends in December, and typically some of the preliminary quarterly financials are available on newswires a month after the quarter end date (March, June, September), the April, July & October months have higher percentages of preliminary data.

Preliminary annual financials typically are available to the market two months after the end of the year (December) thus the higher percentage of annual preliminary data in February.

Preliminary History Data by Item

The next chart details the percentage of preliminary data for Net Income - or some component of Net Income - from Q1Y87 to Q2Y07. Quarterly Sales and Net Income are populated the majority of the time, and the amount of other data collected continues to increase for other data items.