When Euromoney approached Multex, a highly regarded equity research and estimates platform, and asked it to take part in this year's internet awards, at first it was keen. Then it realized that First Call Analyst was also in the running, and it pulled out.
The marketing representative for Multex explained: "The guy who was supposed to show you the site is really worried. We're just not ready to show you it yet. We know it's not as good as what Thomson has. But we're working on it - we have a new version coming out soon."
So Euromoney, and, more important, clients, will have to wait for that new version. In the meantime, Thomson First Call Analyst is comfortably the best site of its kind.
The site itself is not so much a single product as a collection of individual research and estimates products, all knitted together into one integrated platform. Each tool has its own niche, so I/B/E/S compiles consensus estimates, Datastream feeds pricing data, Worldscope offers fundamentals figures, and so on. These products have all been bought by Thomson Financial and built into the platform, which has been in its current form since June 2002.