Some useful code

How to get data for a list of companies easily

A lot of the investors I admire are technophobes so I wonder if it’s useful be one too. I agree that reading annual reports or letters to shareholders on a computer or tablet is not a good idea. There is just too much possible distraction. Also making notes on a piece of paper is simpler. There is always the danger of losing the piece of paper but I find that if I make note on paper I’m more likely to remember it than if I make a note in a document on the computer. Anyways it probably depends on one’s preferences.

I’d love to have the luxury of someone finding the data and reports I ask for and print it so I could just sit and read. Maybe later. For now if I need some data quickly I have written a few snippets of code that allow me to:

1. Download a descriptions of companies based on a list of tickers

2. Download market caps and net income of companies based on a list of tickers

The code is in Google Colab Notebook (Python) which can be run by anyone - there is a short description of how to use it at the top. The results are easy to download. I find it useful when I want to review several companies quickly.

If you find it useful, let me know what other scripts might be useful for your research. One I’m working on now is to retrieve net incomes for a list of companies from the last 4-5 years so I can get an average (last year could have been an outlier)…