Patent ID: 7761797

Claim:
A system for providing a user interface to a user, the system comprising: a computer system comprising at least one processor and an operatively associated computer readable medium, wherein the computer readable medium comprises instructions that when executed by the at least one processor causes the computer system to: receive data describing a plurality of potential similar companies; for each of the plurality of potential similar companies, find a degree of similarity between the potential similar company and a focal company, wherein finding the degree of similarity comprises finding a similarity distance between a first n-dimensional point representing values of a set of financial metrics for the focal company and a second n-dimensional point representing values of the set of financial metrics for the potential similar company, wherein n is the number of metrics in the set of financial metrics, wherein each coordinate of the first n-dimensional point corresponds to a value for one financial metric of the set of financial metrics for the focal company, and wherein each coordinate of the second n-dimensional point corresponds to a value for one financial metric of the set of financial metrics for the potential similar company; select from the plurality of potential similar companies at least one similar company having a degree of similarity with the focal company that is greater than a first threshold; and display a user interface, the user interface comprising: a focal company field listing an identifier for the focal company; a metric input field for selecting the set of financial metrics; a similar company field listing identifiers for the at least one similar company; wherein certain of the identifiers listed in the similar company field include a hyperlink which, when activated by a user, causes the computer system to: list the company corresponding to the activated hyperlink as a new focal company in the focal company field; determine at least one new similar company having a degree of similarity with the new focal company that is greater than the first threshold; and display the at least one new similar company at the similar company field.