Who uses GICS and how?

[ghotib]

Earlier tonight I was reading a thread on this board which has some discussion about diversifying and sectors. I've now tracked down answers to some of my longstanding questions about sectors: who allocates a company to a sector? how do they allocate it? when does an allocation change? (all in the FAQ at http://www.gics.standardandpoors.com/ ).

It seems that the whole GICS classification system exists to enable large scale comparisons of companies across exchanges and national economies and that it's part of something I tend to label the Great Index Standover.

I got curious about sectors when I was looking at some companies that seemed to be direct competitors but that are classified differently. I had thought that I could use them to limit my universe of shares, especially when looking for long-term holds. Now I'm thinking the main use might be as an indicator of how the institutions might behave :rolleyes:

I'd be interested to know if members of this board actually use the GICS sectors in your analyses, both technical and fundamental. And if you use them, how do you use them and how much do you rely on them?

Thanks,

Ghoti

[ghotib]

Nobody knows? Nobody cares?

I had the idea today that sector indexes might provide confirmation or otherwise about trends for shares within a sector. But I dunno - you wouldn't really expect individual company share prices to track a sector index so closely that deviations were significant.

Ghoti :confused:

[tech/a]

Nobody knows? Nobody cares?

Not so!!

I did a lot of work on sectors about 4 yrs ago.
Ill post my veiws when I have more time.

If you or anyone else interested has Metastock I have some code to identify strongest indexes and or stocks within the indexes.
Ill post it up if anyone wants it.

[ghotib]

Thanks tech.

I just use Comsec for babies, but my IT past is close enough that I'd be curious to see code.

Aside from that, I'll wait on your words with interest...

I mean with anticipation ;)