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CONTENTS
- Background Information
- Articles
- Annual Reports, 10K
- Stocks
- Internet Resources (specific industries)
Background Information
It is easier to find information about public companies (those that sell stock to shareholders) than about private companies (those that are privately owned by an individual or group). Public companies in the United States are required to file documents with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). These include the 10K (annual) and 10Q (quarterly) reports. In addition, public companies issue an annual report to shareholders.
When looking for information about a company, consider both for information from the company about itself (e.g., the company Web page, SEC filings, press releases, etc.) as well as information about the company written by others (e.g.., newspaper articles, analyst reports, articles by business school professors, etc.)
Finding information about a company includes the following steps:
- Get an overview of the company; find out if it is public or private.
- Find the company web page.
- If the company is public, find relevant 10K and 10Q reports and annual reports to shareholders.
- Look for news and periodical articles to give you additional information. (This may be one of the only ways to find information on a private company.)
- For public companies, also look at analyst reports.
- Find competitors.
Many of the business information resources will give you all of these types of information. The New York Public Library provides a tutorial about how to research companies.
Print Resources in the Reference Collection:
- International Directory of Company Histories -- REF HD 2721 .I63
Use the index in the latest volume to find company profiles and histories.
- Moody's Industrial Manual -- REF HG 4961.M67
Some call this the best source with which to begin because of its detailed profiles for U.S. companies that trade stock on various exchanges. It gives for each company: history, capital structure, business segments, property, joint ventures, subsidiaries, executives, balance sheets, long term debt, and capital stock. Other Moody's Manuals the Library has are:
Bank & Finance
International
OTC Industrial
Public Utilities
Transportation
- Million Dollar Directory-- REF HC 102 .D8
Information included: address, phone number, key personnel, sales volume, number of employees, designation of publicly held companies, and the parent company.
- America's Corporate Families: The Billion Dollar Directory-- REF HG 4057 .A164
This source covers more parent companies than the Million Dollar Directory, and includes more affiliate listings. Relationships between affiliates and parent companies are shown in hierarchical order, indicating how companies report to their parents.
Online Resources from Databases & Subject Guides on the Library website:
- Company Dossier - provides basic and in-depth business information on more than 35 million global companies, even lawsuits
Articles
- Business Source Elite - provides citations to and some full text articles about business, management, economics, banking, finance, accounting from 1985-present.
- Business & Management Practices - provides citations to business management articles from 1995-present.
- LexisNexis Academic - provides mostly full text news, law, business, and health articles from varied years. Note: Select "Business" from the left menu on the homepage, then select from several options for "Company Information." For example, Company Dossier, Company Financial Reports, or Company Profiles.
- Emerald - Contains 35,000 articles from over 100 management journals, complete with full text archives back to 1994. Covers the major management disciplines including strategy, leadership, information management, marketing and human resource management.
Annual Reports, 10K
The Annual Report to Shareholders is the principal document used by most public companies to disclose corporate information to shareholders. It is usually a state-of-the-company report including an opening letter from the Chief Executive Officer, financial data, results of continuing operations, market segment information, new product plans, subsidiary activities and research and development activities on future programs.
10-K reports - This is the annual report that most reporting companies file with the Securities & Exchange Commission. It provides a comprehensive overview of the registrant's business. The report must be filed within 90 days after the end of the company's fiscal year.
For definitions of other forms, see Guide to Corporate Filings via Securities & Exchange Commission
Annual Stockholder Reports - full text reports of Fortune 500 companies (1993-present)
Based on the Fortune 500 list as published in Fortune Magazine
Annual Reports - lists annual reports published on the internet.
SEC Edgar Database - full text reports (10-K, 10-Q, and more) from US public companies via Securities & Exchange Commission (1993-present)
Other databases, such as Mergent Online, Company Dossier, and Standard & Poor's offer EDGAR filings.
Stocks
- Stock Tools
find daily historical stock prices for 10-12 years; also shows which companies are gaining/losing in the market, grouped by major industries.
- Yahoo Finance Stock Research
Find earnings data, company reports and historical quotes.
On corporate websites, look for a link to "Stockholder" or "investor" information. You may also find press releases and other goodies. But remember that the information is filtered through their PR folks (Public Relations).
You may also want to try more general web resources, such as the Wall Street Research Network, which includes how a company compares with an industry, stock quotes (current and historical), news reports, charts and graphs. hint: try the "Power Search" option and select from the news sources you wish. Or Yahoo!'s company profiles page or Yahoo's finance site .
For lists of links on many business topics try the Librarians Index to the Internet.
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