IP Profiles: Why Patents?
Discover how patents can reveal key insights into corporate activities and provide a competitive edge in mosaic investment strategies.
WHY Patents Matter to Hedge Funds & PE
IFI believes that ANY & ALL company research or due diligence that does not consider patents is incomplete.
“S&P 500 companies' intangible assets have gone from 17% of total assets in 1975 to 90% last year” (2020),* thus providing an indication that 90% of American corporate wealth is held in intangibles. Patent data is typically viewed as holding the lion's share of intangible asset value.
* Alan Murray and David Meyer, “We are All Tech Companies Now,” Fortune, 2021
From corporate viability to credit valuations to identifying R&D efficiency, patents are an objective measurement of success. In fact, a European Union Intellectual Property Office study found that companies with patents generate 55% more revenue per employee compared to companies without. Further, patents are utilized as a competitive intelligence tool to determine which geographic markets are being targeted along with the given area of technology focus.
IP Profiles distills several of the key attributes of patents to provide a snapshot of a company's market position. Moreover, IP Profiles is a tool that offers an introductory use of patents in one's mosaic investment strategies and can ultimately be complemented by further patent insights from IFI CLAIMS.
