I was talking to a user a few days back who uses our Search extensively. He gave me an example of how he was using our Data Search feature.

Last month, after the AT&T earnings call on Jan 24th, the Street was abuzz over a data point. The data point in question was the difference between iPhones units shipped, as per Apple and iPhones activated, as per AT&T. Sanford Bernstein put out a note, attributing the difference to reasons that were not entirely favourable to AAPL. Many people didn’t agree with Bernstein’s conclusions but that is not the point.

In a situation like this, a buy-side analyst will want to make up his own mind. First of all, he’d want to see the numbers himself. If he wasn’t a Gridstone user, he’d be rummaging through transcripts and filings for AT&T and Apple to find the right data points. For a Gridstone user it would take less than a minute.

The user I spoke to did this:

Entered “iphone” in the Search box. Chose Data Search. Clicked Go.

Eyeballed the results.

Clicked through to the source document to get the context around the numbers.

Separated fact (what management is saying) from opinion (what the Street is saying).

Made up his own mind about the numbers.

When you have easy access to any number, across companies, across quarters, you tend to rely on your own judgment a lot more. Just one of the things Gridstone can do for you.