| Starting Point:
Before beginning your search for company information, spend a few minutes to determine if the company is U.S, foreign owned. Directories are generally arranged geographically and may range from national or regional to multi- or international. To determine location:
Is the company located in U.S.?
- Dun & Bradstreet American Corporate Families and International Affiliates Vol. III.. Annual. The symbol ▲ denotes publicly-held companies. (Located in Corporate Area). -
Is the company regional or local?
It is also important before starting your search to determine if the company is publicly-owned--ultimate parent, a subsidiary, affiliate, or division; or if it is privately-owned.
- Ultimate parent company--the highest company in a corporate family hierarchy.
- Subsidiary-- greater than 50% ownership by another company.
- Division--an operating or administrative unit of another company.
- Affiliate--owned by more than one company and no one company having more than 50% ownership.
Publicly Owned Companies: Ultimate Parent, a Subsidiary, Affiliate, or Division
A public or publicly-held has shares that are available to be bought and sold via the U.S. stock exchanges by individual investors from the public. Stock exchanges identify a security for trading purposes based on a unique letter code called a ticker symbol. Information on publicly-owned companies are not as difficult to locate as privately owned companies. Publicly-owned companies are required to file detailed reports of the company with the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) . These reports are available to the general public.
Information for some companies may appear under its ultimate parent rather that itself as subsidiary, affiliate, or division. And is therefore not as easy to locate. The titles that follows is useful for tracing a company's ownership.
- Dun & Bradstreet. American Corporate Families and International Affiliates Vol. III.. Annual. The symbol ▲ denotes publicly-held companies. (Located in Corporate Area).
Subsidiaries, Divisions, Affiliates
Because subsidiaries, affiliates, etc do not have to make information public directly (except by local & state regulations), one must rely on 2 basic sources of information for these entities: directories and the news media.
Company Background and Financials
Printed Sources:
- International Directory of Company Histories, Ref HD2721 .D36
- Mergent's Handbook of Common Stocks , Ref HG 4501 .M59
- Mergent's Handbook Of Nasdaq Stocks , Ref HG4501 .M58
- Value Line Investment Survey, (On Reserve)
Databases:
The databases below provide company type and information ranging from a profile of the company to in-depth information.
- ABI/Inform Global R
- Lexis-Nexis Universe R Company Financial Reports Detailed financial data about companies Company Profiles-- Company information including executives, revenue and competitors Compare Companies -- Find companies based on a variety of criteria; EDGAR filings, annual & quarterly reports & proxy statements SEC Filings & Reports.
- Factiva R (formerly Dow Jones Interactive) [No proxy service for remote access; user must be on campus network proper] -- Factiva provides information on private companies and detailed information on tens of thousands of publicly quoted companies in 72 countries, including the following:
Ratio Comparison Report: Compares key financial ratios of this company against its industry, sector, and the S&P 500 Index aggregates. Detailed Company Profile Report: A detailed outline of this company's primary activities, top officers and executives, competition, history, products, services, and key financial ratios. Detailed Company Profile Report with Financial Results Report: A detailed outline of this company's primary activities, top officers and executives, competition, history, products, services, key financial ratios, and full balance sheet, income statement and cash flow statements
- Standard & Poor's NetAdvantage Standard & Poor's NetAdvantage is a comprehensive source of business and investment information, offering on-line access to Standard & Poor's research products such as Industry Surveys, Stock Reports, Corporation Records, The Register of Corporations, Directors and Executives, The Outlook, Mutual Fund Reports among others.
- Thomas Register of American Manufacturers --Provides a list of American manufacturers, their major products, and
contact information. MAybe also useful to locate competitors and their
products.
- Value Line Investment Survey --> This service is available for on-campus use only, in Business Library. R The Value Line Investment Survey is a comprehensive source of information and advice on approximately 1,700 stocks, more than 90 industries, the stock market, and the economy.
Public Company Filings
Public companies are required by the SEC to disclose themselves via variousfiling forms The databases below provide Corporate Reports for public companies only.
- Lexis-Nexis Universe R EDGARPlus® provides keyword access to the entire text of EDGAR documents.
- 10K Wizard
- U.S. Securities and exchange Commission EDGAR. http://www.sec.gov/ -- All companies, foreign and domestic, are required to file registration statements, periodic reports, and other forms electronically through EDGAR. Anyone can access and download this information for free. Here you'll find links to a complete list of filings available through EDGAR and instructions for searching the EDGAR database.
For retrospective 10-'k reports see: Disclosure Microfiche Collection, filed in the microfiche cabinets alphabetically by company's name.
Company Annual Reports
In addition to U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission , see also:
- Annual Reports Gallery -- AnnualReports.com (a division of IR Solutions) provides free Annual Reports online. HArd copies of annual reports maybe ordered.
- Wall Street Journal Annual Report Service -- Offers free annual reports to the Journal's readers. It brings you the annual report and, if available, quarterly report of any company for which the club symbol appears in the Journal's stock listings in the Money and Investing section. Reports are sent the next working day (subject to availability) via first-class mail.
Company History
Company history may be found in the 10-k reports and/or annual reports via Lexis-Nexis Universe R, Edgar SEC Filings & Reports for public companies. For retrospective annual and 10k-reports, see the microfiche collection file in microfiche cabinets alphabetically by company names. Some company web sites may provide company history. See Internet Sites for Company Information above.
- Businesshistory.net -- http://www.businesshistory.net/--Provides brief history for companies by industry.
- International Directory of Company Histories. Ref HD2721 .D36
Company Rankings
- D&B Business Rankings; Public and Private Businesses Ranked Within Industry Category and State. Annual, (Located in Corporate area).
- Market Share Reporter , Ref HF5410 .M35
- Advertising Age . 100 leading national advertisers ranked 1 to 50 by advertising spending is published as special report (June 26, 2006. Current issue on Current newspaper; ask at desk for issues for the current year, older issues on microfilm; see also Sterling for online source.
- Black Enterprise, The Top 100 Black-Owned Businesses is published in the June issue, current issue on Reserve; older issues on microfilm; see also Sterling for online source.
- Business Week Global 1000” is published in a mid-April special issue of Business Week, current issues on Reserve, older issues on microfilm; see also Sterling for online source.
- " Fortune Global 500” is published in a late April or May issue of Fortune, current issue on Reserve; older issues on microfilm; See also Sterling for online source. “Forbes500 Annual Directory”--is published in the last April issue of Forbes; includes other lists to include: Forbes 2000, Largest Private Companies , (current issue on Reserve; older issues on microfilm; see also Sterling for online source.
Corporate Boards Officers and Directors
- www.boardmember.com Corporate Board Member magazine is an information resource for senior officers and directors of publicly traded corporations, top private companies, and Global 1000 firms. An online information library complements the magazine, which is published every
other month.
Is the company Foreign? See Company Research (foreign)
- International Directory of Company Histories, Ref HD2721 .D36
- Principal International Businesses. Dun & Bradstreet International--Organized geographically. Located in Corporate Area. Covers 50,000 public and private companies from 145 countries.
Is the company Privately Owned, Nonprofit? See: Privately-Owned, Nonprofit
It is not as easy to find information Privately-Owned and Non profits. Unlike publicly-owned U.S. companies, these type companies are not required by law to disclose--make certain information available publicly.
Internet Sites for Company Information
- CAROL http://www.carol.co.uk/ -- Access is free of charge but one must register. CAROL is an on-line service offering direct links to the financial pages of listed companies in Europe and the USA. CAROL provides direct access to companies’ balance sheets, profit & loss statements, financial highlights etc. Links to stock exchanges around the world and provides a news update service covering IPOs, mergers & acquisitions, and other events typically the subject of securities filings.
- Company Research - WSJ.com
- EdgarScan http://edgarscan.pwcglobal.com/servlets/edgarscan--The ABAS Technology Group of PriceWaterhouseCoopers maintains this interface to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis and Retrieval (SEC EDGAR) Filings.
- Hoovers http://www.hoovers.com/free/ -- Provides certain company information, including links to Web sites and recent articles for free.
- Inc , The Inc. 500, is a list of the 500 fastest growing private companies, (current issues on Current Periodicals shelves, older issues on microfilm; see also Sterling for online source.
- internet.com http://www.internet.com/ -- provides enterprise IT and Internet Industry professionals with the news, information resources and community they need to succeed in today's rapidly evolving IT and business environment.
- InvestorCalendar.com Annual Reports Service http://investorcalendar.ar.wilink.com/asp/A620_search_ENG.asp-- a free Service provided by WILink and Vcall. The Annual Reports Service provides access to annual reports and other information on select companies. New companies are added weekly.
- U.S. Securities and exchange Commission http://www.sec.gov/ -- All companies, foreign and domestic, are required to file registration statements, periodic reports, and other forms electronically through EDGAR. Anyone can access and download this information for free. Here you'll find links to a complete list of filings available through EDGAR and instructions for searching the EDGAR database.
- 10k Wizard http://www.10kwizard.com/ -- One must register to retrieve free documents. Offers public company securities filings made since 1994.
Patents/Trademarks
- Lexis-Nexis Universe R – Select the Category “Legal Research” and scroll to: Patent Research-- links are to full text patents, without illustrations, from 1971 to the present. Searching is available by patent and patent numbers by U.S. classification number. The full text of U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Manual of Classification may also be searched by keyword.
- Patent Web Databases http://www.uspto.gov/pat ft/index.html
Offers the full text of all US patents issued since January 1, 1976 and full-page images of each page of every US patent issued since 1790 through the most recent weekly issue date.
- Patent and Trademark Depository Libraries http://www.uspto.gov/go/pt dl/ -- Check with these depository libraries for information on obtaining full patents.
Federal Regulations
Business & Industry News
- Bloomberg www.bloomberg.com/--Provides business and financial news.
- Factiva R (formerly Dow Jones Interactive) [No proxy service for remote access; user must be on campus network proper] -- A Dow Jones & Reuters company Factiva has the local coverage you need: The Wall Street Journal; New York Times; USA Today; Singapore's Straits Times; The Australian; Hong Kong's South China Morning Post; India's Economic Times; The Times of London; Le Monde; Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung; Pakistan's Business Recorder; Japan's Nikkei Weekly and Nikkei Report; Indonesia's Jakarta Post; Thailand's Bangkok. More than 120 continuously updating newswires, including the exclusive combination of Dow Jones , Reuters , and The Associated Press . Factiva offers more than 500 wires, including Asia Pulse , Dow Jones-VWD , Agence France Presse , Agencia EFE and other industry, press release, and local newswires Post and much more.
- Forbes.com www.forbes.com/ -- "Core topics include business, technology, stock markets, personal finance, and lifestyle."
- Lexis-Nexis Universe R -- Offers the full text of today's news, or search back more than 20 years. Retrieve full text company news & financial information. Search full text federal, state & international legal materials. Find full text & abstracted medical & health information. Search general reference sources. Number of simultaneous logons: Unlimited.
- internet.com http://www.internet.com/ -- Provides enterprise IT and Internet Industry professionals with the news, information resources and community they need to succeed in today's rapidly evolving IT and business environment.
Bankruptcy Search
- BankruptcyData.com http://www.bankruptcydata.com/findabrtop.asp -- BankruptcyData.com provides instant access to information on thousands of business bankruptcy filings from federal bankruptcy districts. Currently there are over 320,000 business bankruptcies in the database. “New Generation Research offers information on over 2000 public companies filing Chapter 11 since 1986.”
Statistics
- FirstGov.gov http://firstgov.gov/ -- Click on “for Business & Non-Profits” and select “the Business Data and Statistics.”
- Lexis-Nexis Universe R Select "Statistical" from the menu.
- Louisiana State University List of Government Agency Web Sites http://www.lib.lsu.edu/gov/fedgov.html--A concise list of federal agency Web lists with a search engine to easily locate a specific agency.
- STAT-USA/Internet R -- A service of the U.S. Department of Commerce, is a single point of access to authoritative business, trade, and economic information from across the Federal Government.
U.S. Government Agencies
State and Local Government Agencies
Political Activities and Donations
- www.fec.gov Choose the"Campaign Finance Reports and Data tab and select to search the "Disclosure Database."
To locate political donations at the state level:
What is the Company Type? See also Industry Research
Using codes, companies are classified by industries. Therefore, it is important to know the company’s SIC or NAICS codes.
Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) and NAICS codes provide a mechanism for classifying like businesses together. These codes may be used to identify a company’s competitors and to determine industry financial norms.
To identify a company’s SIC number (s) consult the printed 1987 Standard industrial Classification Manual or search the 1987 SIC manual online: Standard Industrial Classification Search http://www.osha.gov/pls/imis/sicsearch.html.
The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) has replaced the U.S. Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) system. SIC numbers are still useful; to locate correspondence between 2002 NAICS and 1987 SIC, see: 1997 NAICS and 1987 SIC Correspondence Tables, http://www.census.gov/epcd/www/naicstab.htm.
The printed source, North American Industry Classification System: United States, 1997 or online, NAICS 2002. ” NAICS 2002 is the same as NAICS 1997 for fourteen of the twenty sectors. Construction and wholesale trade are substantially changed, but the revisions also modify a number of retail classifications and the organization of the information sector.”
The directories below provides (SIC/NAICS codes for companies listed
- Dun & Bradstreet. American Corporate Families and International Affiliates Vol. III.. Annual. Located in Corporate Area.
- Standard & Poor's Register of corporations, Directors and Executives Vol. III . Annual. Corporate families members are cross-referenced in the "Cross-Referenced Index" to ultimate parent companies. Located in Corporate Area).
Company type may also be identified using electronic databases above. |
