6 Resources for Industry Insight

Welcome back, everyone. As we enter the post-Labor Day boom, all signs point to a busy fall. This is great news for your business, but not so much for your free time. Unless you are willing to make the long days even longer, you need to find a method to more effectively sort through the deals coming your way.

As the old adage says – “knowledge is power.” By staying informed of the most recent industry trends and insights, you can more efficiently sort through your relevant deals and make qualified decisions. Comprehensive knowledge of an industry’s recent trends allows you to better analyze the quality of a deal. To help arm you with this competitive advantage, we found a number of websites, reports and resources to help you enter the deal season prepared. Most of these resources are available for free, allowing you to stay informed without a hefty price tag. 

Read the reports below:

PitchBook/McGladrey: Although PitchBook is a paid database service, their free reports are great. The content of these reports range from Information Technology Deal Flow and Business Products & Services Deal Flow to a general Private Equity Breakdown Report. Often, other firms, like McGladrey & Pullen, LLC, will use PitchBook data to produce reports. The result: a repository of easily accessible and valuable industry data. Regardless of your scope or or industry vertical, you will most likely find these reports helpful.

Bain: As it turns out, Bain does much more than provide anti-Romney fodder for journalists – Bain also produces quality industry reports and insight. One of the most valuable publications is the firm’s Global Private Equity Report 2012. This enormous 70-page report gives detailed analysis of 2011 performance and a forecast for 2012 performance. For more specific information and trends, the firm also compiles and produces a variety of “Business Insights,” “Industry Insights,” and “Capability Insights.”

PriceWaterhouseCoopers: Although not every report published by PriceWaterhouseCoopers is aimed at PE firms, the reports are still extremely valuable. Within each industry vertical, PwC routinely publishes a series of reports. These reports are both retrospective and forward looking and can range from industry insights to deal performance. Together, these create a powerful snapshot of an industry. If you are an early-stage investor, their MoneyTree Report is definitely worth a look.

Ernst & Young: If you are looking for a general overview of the PE climate, Ernst & Young has a page dedicated entirely to Private Equity reports. Although not extremely lengthy, these snapshot reports can keep you up-to-date on the key trends guiding the markets. Take, for example, this one on the Q2 IPO Market. It provides valuable data and insight into the global performance of IPOs. If you are looking for more industry-specific data, just jump into the appropriate industry category and you will find a whole new set of reports. Like PwC, not every report is PE-directed.

Grant Thornton: Grant Thornton is another resource for valuable industry trends and insight. Their reports – with hand-drawn images, and all – cover a wide-range of industries and topics. You can find information on a specific industry’s M&A activity, information directed to a specific audience, and current events updates.

Axial: In an effort to keep you – our Members and readers – up-to-date, Axial has also published a series of industry reports highlighting recent data and trends. If you haven’t downloaded them already, here are the links to our recent Consumer Activity Report and Industrials Activity Report.