Data Science Platforms Help the Buy Side Integrate Alternative Data

Asset managers are looking for ways to mine alternative data sets for investment ideas, recognizing that stock pickers cannot rely on traditional research. An explosion in alternative data, ranging from satellite images to mobile geolocation data and unstructured text, has created an arms race among hedge funds and quantitative funds. Many firms have hired data scientists to dive into pools of data and to use machine learning algorithms to extract insights or predictive signals. Traditional buy-side firms are also eyeing big data sets while wrestling with how to incorporate them into the investment process. "Alt data is starting to become a little more mainstream in that asset managers realize they need to find new sources of alpha to gain an edge," said Bill Stephenson, managing director of AIR Summit, a conference that was held Sept. 5-6 in New York City.