Reuters – Stock tracker Majestic Research doesn’t talk to company executives or visit malls to get a handle on retail trends. Nor does it make stock recommendations.<\/p>\n
But the New York-based research firm is winning converts among hedge funds who say its brand of Web-based quantitative analysis can be more accurate than traditional Wall Street research forecasts.<\/p>\n
With e-commerce now comprising a larger share of consumer spending than ever before, Web-based data mining has become a rich source to track products sales and generate sales leads.<\/p>\n
But instead of sales leads, Majestic uses Web data to track sales and forecast financial results for target companies – ahead of quarterly earnings releases.<\/p>\n
“It’s really been an invaluable service,” said Isabelle Fymat, partner in the $1.2 billion hedge fund Crosslink Capital, referring to Majestic. Fymat, who tracks e-commerce stocks like Yahoo (YHOO.O: Quote<\/a>, Profile<\/a>, Research<\/a>) and Amazon.com (AMZN.O: Quote<\/a>, Profile<\/a>, Research<\/a>), said Majestic supplies “a lot more reliable information on what is driving or hurting revenue.”<\/p>\n Majestic, which was founded in 2002, uses “quantitative” analysis that it claims can do the job better than traditional stock research methods, at least for consumer-sensitive companies that utilize the Internet in some way.<\/p>\n