Uncovering Small-Cap Gems for a Zurich-Based L/S Equity Fund
The Challenge A boutique Long/Short fund in Zurich specializes in European "Hidden Champions"—family-owned, mid-cap industrial firms. These companies often report in local languages (German, Italian, French) and have zero analyst coverage. The fund's analysts were missing critical signals—specifically Insider Buying—because this data was buried in obscure local registries and not standardized by major US data vendors.
The Solution FinancialReports became the fund's primary discovery engine for small-cap ideas.
- Unified Insider Feed: We aggregated "Director's Dealings" from 30+ disparate European registers into a single, standardized feed, normalizing transaction values into EUR.
- Cluster Detection: We built a custom alert that triggered only when multiple insiders (e.g., CEO + CFO) bought shares within a 30-day window—a high-conviction signal.
- Original Source Access: Every signal linked directly to the original PDF, allowing analysts to verify the filing immediately.
The Result The fund identified a major turnaround play in the Italian manufacturing sector months before the street, solely based on a cluster of insider buys flagged by our system. That single position contributed +400bps to their annual performance.
"The alpha is in the gaps. FinancialReports helps us see the insider activity in Milan and Hamburg that the big US vendors simply miss. It's become our primary screen for idea generation."
