The Wharton School and Zacks Partner to Bring Zacks Estimates Data to WRDS

CHICAGO, July 21, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and Zacks Investment Research, Inc. a leading provider of research, historical market data and workflow solutions announced today that Wharton Research Data Services (WRDS) will now carry the Zacks data on its platform. The select datasets consist of earnings, sales estimates and surprises, pre-announcements, analyst ratings, and target prices for all listed and non-listed issues. WRDS is the leading, comprehensive, internet-based data research service used by academic, government, and corporate firms.  The Zacks database will be hosted on the powerful WRDS Cloud, optimized to effectively meet research needs for the extraction and analysis of financial and economic data.

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"Zacks is proud and honored to commence this long-term partnership with WRDS," said Ausra Di Raimondo, EVP of Academic/Non-Profit data services at Zacks. "This type of data plays a critical role in in-depth academic equity trading research and corporate analytics and back-testing strategies. We are excited to be recognized by WRDS as a valuable data partner in fulfilling its mission to continue to be the leading business intelligence tool for a global research community."

Robert Zarazowski, WRDS Senior Director, added, ""WRDS is delighted to announce this partnership with Zacks Investment Research. Their data enhances the depth and breadth of analyst databases available through WRDS, and allows us to complement our existing products to meet the needs of academic researchers and commercial clients. The value of Zacks data have been proven over the years, as research work using Zacks' data have been published in both premier academic journals and widely circulated practitioner oriented publications."

About WRDS

Wharton Research Data Services (WRDS) is the leading, comprehensive, internet-based data research service used by academic, government, non-profit institutions, and corporate firms. WRDS provides the user with one location to access over 200 terabytes of data across multiple disciplines including Finance, Marketing, and Economics. WRDS provides flexible data delivery options including a powerful web query method that reduces research time.  WRDS provides flexible data delivery options including a simple but powerful web query method, and provides Researchers with the ability to reduce their research time and execute strategy development on the powerful WRDS Cloud.  Developed in 1993 to support faculty research at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, WRDS has since evolved to become the standard tool for a global research community of 30,000 users at over 300 institutions in 27 countries. http://wrds.wharton.upenn.edu

About The Wharton School

The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania — founded in 1881 as the first collegiate business school — is recognized globally for intellectual leadership and ongoing innovation across every major discipline of business education. The most comprehensive source of business knowledge in the world, Wharton bridges research and practice through its broad engagement with the global business community. The School has 5,000 undergraduate, MBA, executive MBA, and doctoral students; more than 9,000 annual participants in executive education programs; and an alumni network of 88,000 graduates.

About Zacks

Zacks Investment Research, based in Chicago, Ill., has been a leading provider of research, market data, and quantitative models to institutional investment management firms in the US and Canada for over 30 years. Recognized for quality, consistency and reliability, Zacks provides institutional and individual investors with the analytical tools and financial information necessary to the success of their investment process. Founded in 1978, Zacks' early contribution to investment analysis was the discovery that earnings per share estimate revisions are the most powerful force affecting stock prices. This discovery is built into the Zacks Rank proprietary methodology for predicting stock price performance. The Zacks Rank has produced average annual returns in excess of 28% since 1988. The premier source of analysts' earnings forecasts, today Zacks produces data feeds for estimates, ratings, earnings report data, fundamental data, and institutional holdings for US and Canadian traded equities, as well as investment research reports and research software tools for investors. For more Zacks expertise, look for Dr. Zacks "The Handbook of Equity Market Anomalies: Translating Market Inefficiencies into Effective Investment Strategies" which will be in bookstores on October 4th, 2011. To learn more about performance information, please go to http://www.zacks.com/performance/.

Wharton Research Data Services (WRDS) Contact:
Robin Gold - 877-438-9737, [email protected]

Zacks Contact:
Ausra Di Raimondo – (312) 265-9214, [email protected]

SOURCE Zacks Investment Research