Guide to Finding Company Information

Alabama State University Library

Guide to Finding Company Information

Most companies can be classified as either “public” or “private.” Public companies sell stock to the general public, so anyone can buy shares in the company and become an owner. Because of this, the federal government requires public companies to release a great deal of information about their finances and operations. Private companies are usually held by individuals or families. Because shares in the company are not available for sale to the general public, the companies are not required to release information about themselves. It can be much more difficult to find information about a private company.

Parent vs. Subsidiary

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Many large companies actually own all or part of other companies. The owning company is called the “parent” and the company that it owns is called the “subsidiary.” If the parent owns the subsidiary completely, the financial information about the subsidiary will probably not be available in any detail. Instead, the financial information for all the subsidiaries will be combined into the “consolidated” financial statements of the parent company. Sometimes the parent only owns a fraction of the subsidiary; in those cases, the subsidiary may release its own financial statements.

Mergent Online

Use Mergent to find the subsidiaries of a parent company. First, search for your company. Under the “Company Details” tab, choose the “Subsidiaries” link. You will see a table for all subsidiaries, their percentage owned by the parent, and their country.

Directory of Corporate Affiliations

Available in Main Reference (1st floor): REF HG 4057 .A221 D57

Use the index to find your company. Lists subsidiaries and ownership, along with standard directory information.

Basic Information

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There are several databases that will provide a great deal of basic information about a company. Here are a few of the best.

Hoover’s Company Records

Search for your company to see a fact sheet. Use the blue menu on the left side of the screen to get more information, such as brief financial statements, history, competitors, and more.

Business & Company Resource Center

Click on the Company icon. Enter the company name or ticker symbol. Select “Ultimate Parent” to find the parent company, then click Search. Results may list more than one company; select the correct company from the list. Use the tabs located at the top of the document to display specific information (Histories, Rankings, Financials, products, etc.) Don’t forget that news articles are excellent sources for analysis and explanations of events and activities.

Financial Statements

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There are several types of financial statements. For information on assets and liabilities, look at the balance sheet. For revenues and profit, look at the income statement. Public companies report their financial statements in several different filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). In addition to the numbers, these filings and reports may contain text with more information about the company.

Hoover’s Company Records

Search for your company to see a fact sheet. Use the menu on the left side of the screen to get annual or quarterly financial information.

Morningstar

Convenient way to find complete SEC filings (10-K, 13-D, etc.). Search for your company by name or ticker symbol to view available reports. Use the menu on the left side of the screen to view Quotes, Analyst Research, Ratings, Ratios, Statements, and more.

Mergent Online

This database contains very detailed information. Search for your company, then use the “company Financials” tab to get data and analysis. Use the “EDGAR” tab to view the complete text of SEC filings; use the “Annual Reports” tab to view a PDF version of the company’s annual report to shareholders.

EDGAR (http://www.sec.gov/edgar.shtml)

(Approved by Dr. McNeal for his classes)

View the complete text of companies’ filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Includes 10-K (annual) and 10-Q (quarterly) reports, proxies, and others.

Stocks & Bonds

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Stock and bond prices are reported regularly on numerous free websites and in newspapers like the Wall Street Journal. The resources below provide additional background and details.

Mergent Online

Search for your company, then look in the “Company Details” tab. The section called “Long Term Debt” gives information on bonds and notes; the section called “Capital Stock” gives information on common and preferred stock, including stock splits, shares outstanding, etc.

BigCharts (http://www.bigcharts.com)

Need a graph of your stock’s performance? Visit this website and use the “Quick Chart” button at the top of the screen. The website will provide a chart of the stock’s performance for the period you choose, along with trading volume. The site also provides other interesting tools for monitoring stock market performance.

Value Line Investment Survey

Available in Serials (3rd floor): Shelved alphabetically by title

Value Line analyzes stock performance and gives recommendations for buying and selling. Companies are grouped by industry, and the industry performance is also analyzed. Also available Online.

Standard & Poor’s Dividend Record

Available at Main Reference Desk (1st floor): REF HG 4908 .S77

Provides a record of quarterly dividends issued by companies, along with declared date, ex-dividend date, etc.

Standard & Poor’s Bond Guide

Available at Main Reference Desk (1st floor): REF HG 4905 .S73

A monthly, compact publication providing comparative financial and statistical information on over 7,600 bonds. Most of the listed bonds are corporate, but some municipal, foreign, and convertible bonds are included. S&P ratings are supplied.

Also available in Database: Standard and Poor's NetAdvantage.

Standard & Poor’s Stock Guide

Available at Main Reference Desk (1st floor): REF HG 4921 .S75

A monthly, compact publication providing comparative financial and statistical information on over 7,000 issues. The Stock Guide provides S&P stock ratings as well as earnings and dividends.

Also available in Database: Standard and Poor's NetAdvantage.

Analysts Reports

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Analysts at investment and research firms track company performance so they can advise their customers or sell the information to other investors. These databases provide access to analyst reports.

Business Source Premier

Great source for Company and Industry Profiles. Includes Country and Market Research Reports. Click on “Company Profiles” then browse for your company name to see a Datamonitor report for this company. Many profiles contain a SWOT analysis for the company.

Business & Company Resource Center

Competitors

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Want to know who your company is competing against? Here’s the easiest place to look.

Hoover’s Company Records

Search for your company to see a fact sheet. Use the blue menu on the left side of the screen and click on “Competitors” to get a complete list.

Market Share

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Simply stated, market share is the total sales of an organization divided by the sales of the market they serve.

Business & Company Resource Center

Click on the Company icon. Enter the company name or ticker symbol. Select “Ultimate Parent” to find the parent company, then click Search. Results may list more than one company; select the correct company from the list. Click on the “Rankings” tab at the top of the document, then click on the small “Market Share” tab below the main tab menu. Market share data is not always available under this tab; you can also try clicking on the “Industry Overview” tab and the “Market Research” tab underneath. If this doesn’t work, use the search box at the top of the page to search for your company’s industry and look under these tabs again.

Ratios

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Use financial and profitability ratios to compare your company’s performance to the industry’s performance. (To learn how to find industry ratios, see our Guide to Finding Industry Information.)

Hoover’s Company Records

Search for your company to see a fact sheet. Use the blue menu on the left side of the screen and click on “Financials” and then “Comparison Data.”

Mergent Online

Search for your company, then click on the “Company Financials” tab. Next, click on “Ratios.”

Standard and Poor’s Net Advantage

Click on the Companies tab at the top of the site. On the Companies main page you can use the drop-down menus to access the Company Profile by using the "Search by Company" tool and entering a ticker symbol or company name. Use the links menu at the left of the document to select different types of information on your company (i.e., Financials, Stock Reports, etc.).

Annual Statement Studies (eStatement Studies)

Uses more than 190,000 financial statements to produce industry composites of financial data. Balance sheet and income statement information is shown in common size format, with each item a percentage of total assets and sales. Common size statements are computed for each individual statement in an industry group, then aggregated and averaged. eStatement Studies is organized according to the NAICS. Data is presented in six areas, which can be selected from the menu-bar below the data set: The three sets of Financial Ratio Benchmarks data (FRB assets, FRB History, and FRB Sales), and the three sets of Industry Default Probabilities and Cash Flow Measures data (IDP Assets, IDP History, and IDP Sales).

CEOs/Personnel

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A company’s financial reports can provide an overview of the performance of the organization’s leadership (CEO, CFO, etc.). Articles are the best source for obtaining more specific information about the actions taken by a company’s CEO, etc., which lead to the company’s growth or decline. Finding information about CEO’s, CFO’s, and other company leadership personnel is relatively easy for public companies. Basic factual information may even be included in a “company overview” report. Unless a company/leader has been recognized in the news media at some point, finding information for private company CEO’s/personnel may require searching a variety of other resources. Start by consulting articles in business news magazines, financial newspapers, and industry trade publications. Search for a company to find the name(s) of the person(s) you wish to research. Here are some places to find articles and a selection of titles related to human behavior in organizations.

Business Source Premier

Use the search screen to look for articles. Put the company’s name in the “Find:” box; for best results, you could change the “in” box to “CO Company Entity.”

Business & Company Resource Center

For most specific results, use the search box at the top of the page to search for your company. Click on the “News/Magazines” tab to see a list of articles on the company.

ABI/INFORM Complete

ABI/INFORM offers articles from a wide array of sources, including journals, industry publications, regional business news publications, and the Wall Street Journal. For best results, click on the green “Advanced Search” tab at the top of the screen. Put your company name in the search box, and change “Citation and abstract” to “Company/Org.” You can use the tabs at the top of the results list to look at trade publications or newspapers only.

Classics of Organization Theory

Available in Main Stax (3rd floor): HD 31 .C56 2005

Individual Differences and Development in Organizations

e-Book: Click here to read this book online

Human Behavior in the Work Environment: a Managerial Perspective

Available in Main Stax (3rd floor): HD 58.7 .F7

Human Behavior at Work : Organizational Behavior

Available in Main Stax (3rd floor): HD 58.7 .D36 1977

Human Behavior in Business

Available in Main Stax (3rd floor): HM 251 .R85

Human Behavior at Work; Human Relations and Organizational Behavior

Available in Main Stax (3rd floor): HD 6971 .D33 1972

Management

Available in Main Stax (3rd floor): HD 31 .R63 2005

The New Workplace a Guide to the Human Impact of Modern Working Practices

e-Book: Click here to read this book online

U.S. Industry Profiles: the Leading 100

Available in Main Reference (1st floor): REF HD 30.27 .U7

Company Histories

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Hoover’s Company Records

Search for your company to see a fact sheet. Use the blue menu on the left side of the screen and click on “History.”

International Directory of Company Histories

Available at Main Reference Desk (1st floor): REF HD 2721 .I63

Over sixty volumes provide company histories for a wide range of companies throughout the world. Look in the index of the last volume to find the most recent chapter on your company. Use the volume and pages shown in bold print to get the most complete information.

Private Companies

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As explained at the beginning of this guide, it can be difficult to find information about private companies. Here are a few suggestions.

ReferenceUSA

This database is an online directory of more than 12 million businesses. Use the “Quick Search” tab to search by company name or use the “Custom Search” to create a search form for searching by geographic area, yellow page category, company size, etc. Results lists give data such as contact person, number of employees, and estimated sales.

Hoover’s Company Records

Includes information on private companies. Entries may not be quite as extensive as those for public companies, but much good information is available.

ABI/INFORM Complete

Business & Company Resource Center