Category - Merritt Data

Merritt Research Services recently enhanced the "Taxpayers" data available in CreditScope. We now have the ability to provide data for more than one year for the Top Ten Taxpayers. The user has the option to view the Top Ten Taxpayers by clicking on Taxpayers to see data for all years of Top Ten Taxpayers or clicking on the hyperlink "Most Recent Taxpayer Summary" which will only show data for the most recent year. The Top Ten Taxpayers data will be stored under "Taxpayer" in the Credit Detail Screen. With this revision, Merritt will begin to provide historical data for Taxpayers in the...

Category: CreditScope, Merritt Data

Merritt Research Services recently added the Community College sector to CreditScope. This enhancement includes financial data for over 200 standard credits in the Community College sector. These credits had been included in the Public Higher Ed sector prior to this change. If you are not seeing this information in CreditScope, please check the date of your most recent software system update by clicking on the [Help] button on the top menu bar of your screen. Then, click on [About CreditScope]. In the resulting pop-up box, check the line that reads: "Invest.exe date." In order to see this...

Category: CreditScope, Merritt Data

Merritt Research Services recently released its 2013 municipal audit timing report, revealing that, on the whole, municipal bond issuers continue to substantially lag their corporate counterparts in completing their annual audited financial statements. As in the past, this year's audit timing study also continued to show a significant variance among municipal bond sectors - and among individual issuers within each sector. While relatively slow audit times among municipal bond issuers has been a longstanding complaint in the municipal bond market, the concern is being echoed in even wider...

Category: Report, Merritt Data

Merritt Research Services has added more demographic data to CreditScope from the U.S. Census Bureau. The demographic data added under the Census Bureau includes Births & Deaths, Migration, and Birthplace Data. The Births & Deaths section includes the number of births and deaths for a specific year, along with the natural increase which is derived from subtracting deaths from births. Migration Data includes the total net migration in or out of the specific geography and is further broken down into international and domestic migration for a specific geography. Birthplace Data...

Category: CreditScope, Demographics, Merritt Data

Merritt Research Services has recently acquired updated information related to the Generating Units detail included in the Power Info on the Credit Detail Screen for Retail Electric and Wholesale Electric credits. This data is sourced from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, a statistical agency housed under the U.S. Department of Energy. The following fields are available for Generating Units: GU ID, GU Name, Unit Code, Type, Source, Op Status, MW Nameplate, I.S. Year, MW Util-Owned, and %Util-Owned. A more detailed description for each of these fields is available by right- clicking...

Category: CreditScope, Merritt Data

We are happy to share the results of our continued efforts to improve the depth and breadth of our tax-backed offering. Effective this last month, we officially dropped the population threshold for inclusion to the standard data set to an even 40,000 for each of the three relevant sectors (City, County and School District). The effect of that movement yields an overall credit count increase of 36% for the year. Please look for this expanded dataset in your data update. To verify that your system has been appropriately updated, you may check under the [Help] button on the main menu and...

Category: CreditScope, Merritt Data

Merritt currently classifies utility credits into the following sectors: Retail Electric, Water/Sewer, Wholesale Electric, Gas, and Solid Waste. Retail Electric, Water/Sewer, and Wholesale Electric are considered to be a part of the Merritt Standard Sector offering. Records for utility credits are created in CreditScope based upon the pledged revenues on outstanding debt - a straightforward process when only one source of revenue is pledged. As its name implies, a combined utility provides more than one type of utility service. When a combined utility credit is backed by more than one...

Category: CreditScope, Merritt Data

The Merritt data included in CreditScope is updated at the end of every business week. Most people are winding down their work weeks by Friday afternoon, but not at Merritt Research Services. "Our week is winding up on Friday afternoon," according to Troy Gerleman, Chief Operating Officer of Merritt Research Services. Merritt sends the updated data to Investortools for processing over the weekend. The updated data is then delivered electronically to clients typically during business hours on Monday. Most company's IT departments will then integrate the data update into the system so that...

Category: CreditScope, Merritt Data

Merritt Research Services has released its 2012 report on the timeliness of municipal audits, showing little change from prior years. This year's study, examined over 38,000 audits over the five-year period from 2007-2011, and over 8,000 audits for fiscal 2011 alone. While most analysts and investors continue to expect a six-month lag between the end of a borrower's fiscal year and the completion of its audit, the study shows a wide variance among sectors - and among individual issuers. The 2012 study revealed a median audit time of 145 days for fiscal year 2011, compared to 146 days for...

Category: Report, Merritt Data

Merritt Research Services populates values in the Financial Data screen, which are then used to generate formulas and ratios designed to paint an accurate picture of a Credit's current financial condition. These calculations reflect liquidity, fiscal condition, working capital, leverage, coverage, and profitability. These formulas, ratios, and values that comprise them play an important role in credit analysis, but leave room for misinterpretation when considered out of context. The Notes contained within Audited Financial Statements often provide an abundance of information that may not be...

Category: CreditScope, Merritt Data