CDA Investment Technologies was a Maryland-based financial research firm founded by

Robert A. Levy Robert A. Levy (born 1941) is an American businessman and attorney who is chairman emeritus of the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank. He was co-counsel in '' District of Columbia v. Heller'', the U.S. Supreme Court case establishing a Sec ...

. It was a pioneer in early financial databases, but was best known for its mutual fund rankings, whose quarterly release would attract national attention in the 1980s and 1990s. After being bought by the

Thomson Corporation Thomson Corporation was one of the world's largest information companies. It was established in 1989 following a merger between International Thomson Organization and Thomson Newspapers. In 2008, it purchased Reuters Group to form Thomson Reut ...

in 1987, it was an independent subsidiary until 1998, when it was blended in with Technimetrics to become Thomson Financial Investor Relations.

History

Founding and independence

CDA Investment Technologies was founded in 1966 by

, who had just received his Ph.D. in Business from

American University The American University (AU or American) is a Private university, private University charter#Federal, federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Its main campus spans 90-acres (36 ha) on Ward Circle, in the Spri ...

. CDA was one of the first financial research companies to effectively harness computing databases. Its two main products were Spectrum and Cadence Universe. Spectrum reported the holdings and transactions of investment banks, mutual and hedge funds, industry insiders and other institutional investors. Cadence Universe, for which it would become most well known, used portfolio analysis to measure the performance of those same money managers."Md. Data Base Firm Acquired."

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

. May 4, 1987. PAGE F38 By 1985, national newspapers such as

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...

and

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

were reporting on its rankings of mutual funds and money managers. CDA grew to have offices in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

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and

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

in addition to its home office in

Rockville, Maryland Rockville is a city in and the county seat of Montgomery County, Maryland, United States, and is part of the Washington metropolitan area. The 2020 United States census, 2020 census tabulated Rockville's population at 67,117, making it the fourth ...

As a subsidiary

In 1986, Levy sold CDA to the Dutch publishing firm

Elsevier Elsevier ( ) is a Dutch academic publishing company specializing in scientific, technical, and medical content. Its products include journals such as ''The Lancet'', ''Cell (journal), Cell'', the ScienceDirect collection of electronic journals, ...

, although he stayed on as

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

. CDA's time at Elsevier was limited, though, and the company was sold to

in May 1987 for a profit. CDA remained a mostly independent subsidiary and Levy was again kept on as CEO. Their quarterly releases of rankings continued to earn widespread coverage, and their research was well respected and influential. After Levy retired in 1991, CDA continued to profit and expand. In 1991 CDA bought Wiesenberger Financial Services. In 1993 it acquired H.F. Pearson & Co, another financial research firm. In 1993 CDA also made an influential deal with

Nasdaq The Nasdaq Stock Market (; National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations) is an American stock exchange based in New York City. It is the most active stock trading venue in the U.S. by volume, and ranked second on the list ...

to publish a book called ''Corporate Reports'' that was distributed only to CFOs of companies that were listed on the Nasdaq exchange. It provided valuable information about each company, its trends, and how it stacked up against its competitors. In 1995 CDA bought

Institutional Shareholder Services Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. (ISS) is an American proxy advisory firm. Hedge funds, mutual funds and similar organizations that own shares of multiple companies pay ISS to advise (and often vote their shares) regarding share holder v ...

, a proxy research firm.

CDA name fades

CDA's influence and brand, however, began to fade in the later half of the 1990s. Even though ''The Wall Street Journal'' described CDA as one of the two best financial software sites online in 1996, CDA's quarterly releases of mutual fund rankings no longer prompted articles and discussion in national papers. In 1998 Thomson Corporation bought Technimetrics from

Knight-Ridder Knight Ridder was an American media company, specializing in newspaper and Internet publishing. It was bought by McClatchy on June 27, 2006, allowing the latter to become the second largest newspaper publisher in the United States at the time ...

and decided to blend it and CDA together, essentially ending CDA's run as an independent company."Thomson buys financial research firm" ''The Globe and Mail (Canada)'', April 1, 1998, Pg. B3. Both became part of what is now known as Thomson Financial Investor Relations.

References

{{Authority control Financial services companies based in Maryland Financial services companies established in 1966 1966 establishments in Maryland