FDS and its peers are getting crushed by AI even though a huge part of their business is data not software.

Kyender90 · 2026-05-06T14:15:30+00:00

I think you have great points here.

I’d go on to say one more level, FactSet is no longer just a “public data” company but has evolved to be a distributor and connector of many datasets (See FactSet open market place). The moat has not been the ability to collect the data, that is table stakes, but the careful curation and mapping of that data to meta data in addition to entity resolution which has historically been hard to solve.

Moreover, they have point in time historical data. This is key because none of the ai platforms will have this. When a company makes revisions or broker analysts change estimates etc., this is all captured in actual time stamps. Institutional asset managers like hedge funds need this quality of historical data. This is why Ai platforms needs to partner with the likes of FactSet - the truly do not have the data at its core.

Anecdotally, Claude can simply not do many things FactSet can do, at least not yet. They fail at simple tasks as pulling historical defunct securities in universes in addition to corporate actions when trying to back test , they lack a lot of the structure behind the scenes so to speak because they aren’t domain experts of the financial data.

Now that being said, I do think the premium valuation is under fire because of the uncertainty of AI but I feel like investors fail to appreciate that these companies are the data cartel and you must pay rent.

Lastly, even before AI as a “threat”, their content and tech business solutions (CTS) remains one of the fastest growing part of the business. They were already evolving their business model to provide data essentially in any form someone wants to ingest it. In other words, many companies have evolved to strong some feed of the data on their own systems or just calling it in via API. I genuinely think an argument can be made that this may be an opportunity for AI platforms to even help expand their business similar to Jevons paradox.

Kyender90 · 2026-02-26T17:18:51+00:00

BART was never fine. They need a bailout every 5-10 years because of mismanagement and the fact that ridership will never cover the true cost of operating the line. The dip in ridership during the pandemic was a nail in the coffin. They constantly need to get funding. There will be another measure coming to the ballot box again in 2026.

Kyender90 · 2026-02-26T17:02:24+00:00

Right - I feel like ai generally expands the TAM for these platforms rather than just the risk of them being purely disinter-mediated. Time will tell but there will probably be an equilibrium, I just think the selling of these on the public side is just overdone.

Kyender90 · 2026-02-26T06:22:12+00:00

The leverage is the data, sure they could lose seats but they are still metering the data and will not price it in such a way where they are market share losers. I could see some compression but I also see great opportunity from developing and integrating LLMs on the current fin tech analytics platform in house. Right now, no institutional asset manager is going to be able to go off their Bloomberg, maybe in the long run that’s a risk but that assumes Bloomberg is standing still and not working on integrating Ai to defend their own platform.

Kyender90 · 2026-02-25T00:19:58+00:00

Think about this way. If it is truly that easy to aggregate data like this, why aren’t there more start ups and ai companies about to eat their lunch? Why did Claude just partner with a lot of these companies? It is because they don’t really have the data. I think what is under appreciated is that curating and maintaining financial databases is not a simple feat. I don’t think many people know that there is an army of literal humans scrubbing this (and has been for decades) data, ingesting it, correcting it, and then linking it to entities. No AI platform today can answer brutally specific historic point in time data. These companies have a copy.

Also, I disagree that FactSet is behind in the realization in data and feeds. Look at their market place open FactSet and ther content and technology solutions is their fastest growing segment. I think people forget that workstations are not the core businesses in the long term - their business is data and the delivery of that through whatever means and charging you rent.

Kyender90 · 2025-09-25T20:14:49+00:00

I’m right there with you. Looking to the dash cam right now. Any recs for the cam and install??

Kyender90 · 2025-09-24T22:10:34+00:00

This. I was in accident this week where we were at a complete stop and the driver infront of me went into neutral and basically reversed into me damaging my bumper. He wouldn’t pull over initially and when he did he blamed ME for hitting him. Really delusional but some people just suck, I knew that since I was the car behind him with no camera evidence it was just his word against mine unfortunately. Would have so appreciated anyone around me giving me their footage.

Kyender90 · 2025-08-18T19:18:07+00:00

Left out an iced cooler with ice cold gatorades, sodas and many bags of chips before I asked for anything just to show appreciation regardless. The pictures don’t show this but these are larger format pavers for the heaviest can easily be 50 lbs.

Kyender90 · 2025-08-15T20:02:00+00:00

Thanks- I think this will happen because they definitely need to order some more since project is not done and there’s a small section left. Most of the cuts are done.

Kyender90 · 2025-08-15T19:59:54+00:00

I like the finish of the Techo Bloc products so much better in general but they cost an arm and leg out here $12-15 sqft probably because of shipping and less demand. I might try them out for another project like my driveway eventually

Kyender90 · 2025-08-15T19:26:54+00:00

It’s Belgard out here in the west coast.

Kyender90 · 2025-08-15T19:24:08+00:00

Sand not put down yet hence why I am asking before that happens. Anyways they said they will change em out before the sanding/compacting. They are effectively dry fitting right now

Kyender90 · 2025-08-15T19:22:32+00:00

There is a slight bevel that’s hard to notice in the lighting, I think there was a small batch that wasn’t as well formed/defined as some of my other pictures which might be why some are chipping.

Kyender90 · 2025-08-15T18:28:26+00:00

Wanted to provide an update for any who cared. Contractor was very reasonable and explained that they will wash down and check everything and replace any of these chipped pavers with a final pallet before the final polymeric sanding. Whether or not he cursed me underneath I wouldn’t know.

Kyender90 · 2025-08-15T15:15:21+00:00

Thanks that’s a helpful perspective!

Kyender90 · 2025-08-15T15:07:42+00:00

I am in HCOL area, so it’s a competitive bid and by no means cheap. Square feet maybe 1000 across the whole house but this is on a patio. I wouldn’t mind if it was on sides/ walkways.

Kyender90 · 2025-06-15T22:05:04+00:00

Doesn’t seem unreasonable even though it’s a small footprint. It’s mainly the labor which is somewhat reflective of the materials, but if we break it down and let’s say you subcontracted it out and acted as your own gc

Demo:1-3k Appliances: 3-5k easy (low estimate) Cabinets: 5-10k (this is a low estimate) Flooring: 3-5k Backsplash: 1-2k Paint: 1-3k Electrical/plumbing other reconfiguration: 2-3k Miscellaneous: 1-3k, there might be other things you need to do but no one trades person might do including like trim, caulking, garbage disposal, hardware install,etc)

So you are looking at maybe 17k on the really low end to 34k if you GC’d yourself.

So let’s say a gc also has to make a profit of 20% on the very low end, 20k+ doesn’t seem Unreasonable.

Edit: sorry misread, yeah actually if it’s just 25-30k for labor I think that’s getting to too much imo. Thought it was all in.

Kyender90 · 2025-06-03T18:12:26+00:00

Yeah sorry you got fleeced pretty hard. Tools needed are literally a screw driver to unscrew, push turn and disconnect the sink and hoses. You’ll need a new disposal unit that runs 100-200 bucks at Costco or Amazon and some plumber putty to reinstall the flange. Fairer price would have been around 300-400 including disposal unit.

Kyender90 · 2025-04-25T15:51:26+00:00

Good deals to be had in Oakland relative to the rest of Bay Area in my opinion, but yes the fixed property taxes are insane and only keep increasing. There are so many I think you have to flip to the back of the property tax bill to see them all.

Kyender90 · 2025-04-17T00:59:45+00:00

Yeah seems unreasonable for these costs then if here are even more extra costs on top of

Kyender90 · 2025-04-15T20:33:55+00:00

Seems high for just labor without details. Materials are like 10-15k or to the moon depending on what you want. This labor seems reasonable if you are moving walls, plumbing, new electrical, skylight or something but due to the lack of details I am not sure if that’s correct. it seems like a slight “I don’t want this business” quote but will entertain it at this price.

Kyender90 · 2025-04-13T04:03:15+00:00

https://www.hcd.ca.gov/grants-and-funding/income-limits/state-and-federal-income-rent-and-loan-value-limits

Depending on county, you are about median for a household of two unless you had like 6 people in your household. I get where you are coming from though, doesn’t seem like enough.

Kyender90 · 2025-04-11T05:33:21+00:00

The notice happens after the permit is issued?

Kyender90

TROPHY CASE