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Subject Guides:Finding Company InformationCONTENTS
Some basic questions you may want ask yourself before you start your search:
Your search strategy will depend upon the answer(s) to these questions and the type of project you are working on. Unless you have specific needs, you may want to use several of the sources listed below. GENERAL DIRECTORY INFORMATIONThese sources usually provide an address and phone numbers, name of the CEO, NAICS/SIC code, estimated sales, and number of employees. Some directories provide much more information -- biographies of officers, detailed financial information, stock reports, news, analyses of business strategies and recent developments, etc.
FINANCIAL / ANNUAL REPORTS / RATIOSBusiness researchers and investors may use Financial Reports, Annual Reports or 10-K's. Financial Reports tend to be of two kinds: balance sheets and income statements. A balance sheet is a status report that describes the financial condition of a company at a fixed point in time. An income statement, or earnings report, shows how much money is made or lost during the fiscal year (or other time) being reported. Financial statements are included in annual reports (sometimes abridged), S&P reports, and Value Line, for example. To facilitate comparisons, ratios are often calculated using the numbers on financial statements. Two most common types of corporate reports are the 10-K and the Annual Report. The 10-K is the detailed report submitted to the SEC and is the most exhaustive source of current corporate information. The Annual Report is the report to the shareholders and is not an official filing. This is often the glossy snapshot: mostly positive, discussing plans and company's outlook, with financial data included.One of the ways to evaluate the performance of any given company is by comparing that company to other companies or its industry. Financial ratios provide a means and standard of comparison. Many financial elements, such as inventory size, are validated by their relationship/ratio to other elements in a company's financial record, such as sales. Comparing these ratios to similar asset-sized companies or to the industry can result in a better understanding of the health of a company.
DATA AND STATISTICSMergent
Online Additional Data and Statistics Resources MARKET SHAREWhat is "Market Share?" Market share is the ratio of sales of a brand to the total sales of that product-type in a defined area (county, continent, etc.). Market share can also be defined as the ratio of sales of a company's entire product line to the total sales of all related companies. Market share is usually presented as a percentage, although sometimes a raw number of sales or units is provided. If the total raw number is also provided, you can calculate the market share percentage by dividing the brand's number by the total number, and multiplying the results by 100.
RANKINGS OF COMPANIESFind out how a particular company ranks against its competitors, or within a geographical area.
COMPANY HISTORYThese sources may give you information about ownership, brands or products, mergers, board of directors, name changes and of course, the history of the company.
STOCK PERFORMANCEProvides information to investors to understand and make decisions to determine company "health." Key resource publishers are Mergent (formerly Moody's), Value Line, Standard & Poor's, Morningstar. Looking at stock resources is sometimes a good place to find ratios and other financial information for business researchers. Of course, these companies must be publicly traded.
CURRENT NEWSFind out about current happenings, executive changes, management restructuring, new products, mergers and acquisitions, etc.
PRIVATE COMPANY RESEARCHResearch on private companies (particularly small private companies) can be challenging, since private companies are not required to make available the same information required of public companies. It is typically necessary to search in a number of different sources for any available information, including the company's web site and local/regional news sources. Standard & Poor's NetAdvantage Newspaper Databases - http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/guides/newspapers/ Lexis Nexis Corporate Affiliations |
