From the PublisherFor over 20,000 companies, Icon Group International uses a proprietary methodology to generate international benchmarks and measure gaps that might be revealed from such an exercise. First, for a given company Icon Group searches all over over 26,000 firms for others constructing similar products, providing similar services, or are in the same stage of the value chain for a peculiar industrial classification. We then gather the financials for each of these firms and standardize these into comparable categories (assets, liabilities, income and ratios). From there, we eliminate all currency effects by standardizing within each category and country. All benchmarks are altered quarterly.
From the AuthorIcon Group publishes a number of other benchmarks for firms in affiliated product areas, including: — 3DFX INTERACTIVE, INC. — 8X8, INC. — ACTEL CORP. — ADVA AG OPTICAL NETWORKING — ADVANCED MICRO DEVICES, INC. — ADVANCED PHOTONIX, INC. — ADVANCED SEMICONDUCTOR ENGINEERING, INC. — ALLIANCE SEMICONDUCTOR CORP. — ALPHA INDUSTRIES, INC. — ALTERA CORP. — AMERICAN SUPERCONDUCTOR CORP. — AMERICAN XTAL TECHNOLOGY, INC. — AMKOR TECHNOLOGY, INC. — ANADIGICS, INC. — ANALOG DEVICES, INC. — ANAM SEMICONDUCTOR INC — APOLLO ELECTRONICS CO., LTD. — APPLIED MATERIALS, INC. — APPLIED MICRO CIRCUITS CORP. — ARTISAN COMPONENTS, INC. — ASTROPOWER, INC. — ATMI, INC. — AUGUSTA BETEILIGUNGS AG — AUSTRIA MIKRO SYSTEME INTERNATIONAL AG — BCO TECHNOLOGIES PLC — BENCHMARQ MICROELECTRONICS, INC. — BROADCOM CORP. — BURR-BROWN CORP. — CALIFORNIA MICRO DEVICES CORP. — CATALYST SEMICONDUCTOR, INC. — C-CUBE MICROSYSTEMS INC. — CERPROBE CORP. — C-MAC INDUSTRIES INC. — CREE RESEARCH, INC. — CYPRESS SEMICONDUCTOR CORP. — DALLAS SEMICONDUCTOR CORP. — DENSE-PAC MICROSYSTEMS, INC. — DIODES INC. — DSP COMMUNICATIONS, INC. — DUPONT PHOTOMASKS, INC. — ELANTEC SEMICONDUCTOR, INC. — ELECTRO SCIENTIFIC INDUSTRIES, INC. — ELECTROGLAS, INC. — EMCORE CORP. — ESS TECHNOLOGY, INC. — E-TEK DYNAMICS, INC. — FEI COMPANY — FSI INTERNATIONAL, INC. — FUJITSU TOWA ELECTRON LTD — GASONICS INTERNATIONAL CORP. — GENERAL SEMICONDUCTOR, INC. — GENNUM CORP. — HAL TRUST — HALMA PLC — HAMAMATSU PHOTONICS K.K. — HEI, INC. — HOYA CORP. — HYUNDAI ELECTRONICS INDUSTRIES — IBIS TECHNOLOGY CORP. — IKOS SYSTEMS, INC. — IMP, INC. — INFORMATION STORAGE DEVICES, INC. — INTEGRATED CIRCUIT SYSTEMS, INC. — INTEGRATED DEVICE TECHNOLOGY, INC. — INTEGRATED PACKAGING ASSEMBLY CORP — INTEGRATED SILICON SOLUTION, INC. — INTERNATIONAL RECTIFIER CORP. — INTEST CORP. — JAPAN RESISTOR MFG. CO., LTD. — KOKUSAI ELECTRIC CO., LTD. — KOMATSU ELECTRONIC METALS CO., LTD. — KOPIN CORP. — KOREA ELECTRONICS CO., LTD. — KYOCERA CORP. — LABARGE, INC. — LAM RESEARCH CORP. — LASER POWER CORP. — LATTICE SEMICONDUCTOR CORP. — LEVEL ONE COMMUNICATIONS, INC. — LG SEMICON CO. — LITON ELECTRONIC — LOGIC DEVICES INC. — LSI LOGIC CORP. — MACRONIX INTERNATIONAL — MALAYSIAN PACIFIC INDUSTRIES BERHAD — MEMC ELECTRONIC MATERIALS, INC. — MEMORY CARD TECHNOLOGY A/S — MEMORY CORP. — METROLOGIC INSTRUMENTS, INC. — MICREL, INC. — MICRION CORP. — MICRO LINEAR CORP. — MICROCHIP TECHNOLOGY INC. — MICRON TECHNOLOGY, INC. — MICRONAS SEMICONDUCTOR HOLDINGS AG — MICROSEMI CORP. — MIMASU SEMICONDUCTOR INDUSTRY CO., LTD. — MMC NETWORKS, INC. — MOSEL VITELIC INC — MRV COMMUNICATIONS, INC. — MUSIC CORP. — NATIONAL SEMICONDUCTOR CORP. — NEOMAGIC CORP. — NIHON INTER ELECTRONICS CORP. — NIKON CORP. — NORDIC VLSI ASA — NOVELLUS SYSTEMS, INC. — NUMBER NINE VISUAL TECHNOLOGY CORP — OLITEC SA — OPTEK TECHNOLOGY, INC. — OPTION INTERNATIONAL NV — ORIENT SEMICONDUCTOR ELECTRONICS — OXFORD MOLECULAR GROUP PLC — PANDA PROJECT, INC. (THE) — PLASMA-THERM, INC. — PLX TECHNOLOGIES INC. — PMC – SIERRA, INC. — PMJ AUTOMEC OYJ — POWER INTEGRATIONS, INC. — QLOGIC CORP. — QPL INTERNATIONAL HOLDINGS LTD. — QUALITY SEMICONDUCTOR, INC. — QUICKTURN DESIGN SYSTEMS, INC. — REPTRON ELECTRONICS, INC. — RF MICRO DEVICES, INC. — RF POWER PRODUCTS, INC. — ROGERS CORP. — ROHM COMPANY LTD. — ROSS TECHNOLOGY, INC. — S.O.I.TEC SILICON ON INSULATOR TECHNOLOG — SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO.,LTD. — SANKEN ELECTRIC CO., LTD. — SCHAFFNER HOLDING AG — SDL, INC. — SEEQ TECHNOLOGY INC. — SEMITOOL, INC. — SEMTECH CORP. — SHINKO ELECTRIC INDUSTRIES CO., LTD — SILICON VALLEY GROUP, INC. — SILICONIX INC. — SILICONWARE PRECISION INDUSTRIES CO LTD — SMTEK INTERNATIONAL, INC. — SPECTRA-PHYSICS LASERS, INC. — SPIRE CORP. — STAC SOFTWARE, INC. — STMICROELECTRONICS N.V. — SUBMICRON SYSTEMS CORP. — SUMITOMO SITIX CORP. — SUPERCONDUCTOR TECHNOLOGIES INC. — SUPERTEX, INC. — TAIWAN SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURING CO LT — TAKAMISAWA ELECTRIC CO., LTD. — TELCOM SEMICONDUCTOR, INC. — TEXAS INSTRUMENTS INC. — TOPSIL SEMICONDUCTOR MATERIALS A/S — TOSHIBA CERAMICS CO., LTD. — TRANSWITCH CORP. — TRIDENT MICROSYSTEMS, INC. — TRIQUINT SEMICONDUCTOR, INC. — TSENG LABS, INC. — ULTRATECH STEPPER, INC. — UNITED MICROELECTRONICS CORP. — VIKAY INDUSTRIAL LTD — VITESSE SEMICONDUCTOR CORP. — VLSI TECHNOLOGY, INC. — WAKO ELECTRIC COMPANY LTD. — WATKINS-JOHNSON COMPANY — WEITEK CORP. — WHITE ELECTRONIC DESIGNS CORP. — WINBOND ELECTRONIC CORP. — XICOR, INC. — ZING TECHNOLOGIES, INC. — ZORAN CORP.
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.Though we to a great extent rely on historical performance, the figures reported in this report are not historical but are forecasts and projections for the coming fiscal year. The forecasts are modified quarterly. This queer report was modified in the last quarter. In order to maintain comparability over time and all over companies and countries, we use an index system. In the case of a firm’s assets, we treat the total sum totals as equaling 100, irrespective of the value of the local currency. All other sum totals are then calculated as a percent from total assets. In this way, the structure of the firm’s summations may be without apparent effort interpreted and equated with global benchmarks. For liabilities, total obligations and equity are indexed to equivalent to 100. For the income statement, total revenue is indexed to equivalent 100, and all other figures are calculated as a percent of these figures. Ratios are projected using raw financial stats and, as ratios, are hence comparable. The source(s) for the respective raw stats include public filings, corporate releases, and respective other selective information sources.
Given a company’s financial structure, the resulting figures are benchmarked throughout “leading competitors”. In choosing the leading competitors, Icon Group chooses only those firms with sound financial situations or those not undergoing radical restructuring, or where random volatility, mergers, or bankruptcy affects financial performance.
Since the calculation of competitors’ benchmarks proceeds in a similar fashion, but are aggregated throughout all competitors, one may directly conduct a financial gap analysis. Here, Icon Group graphically reports, for each portion of the financial statement, the more prominent gaps that the firm has vis–vis the leading competitors. A gap need not be a bad sign. Rather, it is merely a substantial divergence that might merit further attention or signal a firm’s relative strength or weakness for the coming fiscal year.. Again, all figures are projections, so due caution is required.
