Management: Company Research

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 a group).  Public companies in the United States are required by law 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 information from the company itself (e.g., the company website, SEC filings, press releases, etc.) as well as information about the company written by others (e.g., newspaper articles, analyst reports, articles by 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 website and review it carefully, particularly the sections for investors or media/press.
• If the company is public, find relevant 10K and 10Q reports and annual reports to shareholders
• Search for news, magazine and other periodical articles for information.  This may be the only way to find information on private companies.
• If the company is public, search for analyst and brokerage reports. These sometimes contain an analysis of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT).
• Identify competitors.

• Mergent Online
   In-depth company overviews including current and recent historical financials.  Covers U.S. public companies.
• Mergent Intellect
   Basic company overviews, current financials and company news. Covers U.S. and international public companies and many private companies.
• D&B Hoovers
   Basic company overviews, current financials, and SWOT analysis. Covers U.S. public and private companies. NOTE: Read only.

• Manta "Manta is the world's largest online community for promoting and connecting small business. With more than one million registered users and nearly 64 million company profiles, business owners and professionals use Manta to promote and differentiate their offerings and "be found" online by customers and prospects."

• Yahoo! Finance "Yahoo! Finance brings you company profiles from Capital IQ, who provides users with information on over 9,000 public companies, including contact information, business summaries, officer and employee information, sector and industry classifications, business and earnings announcement summaries, and financial statistics and ratios. Yahoo adds stock charts based on historical data from Commodity Systems, Inc. (CSI), and links to other resources."

• SEC Filings & Forms/EDGAR (Public Web Site) Search for official company filings including 10-K's, 10-Q's and many more using the EDGAR system back to 1994.

• Business and Economic Data Finder: Company Reports Gives chart showing historical company reports availability at UGA Libraries.

• Library of Congress - Public Company Research (Public web site). This informative page includes information on where to find/purchase historical company reports and filings.

Company web sites can provide a wealth of information, particularly for public companies.  Look for press releases, investor information including presentations and events and filings such as SEC filings, annual reports or corporate social responsibility or "community" reports.  Use information from the company carefully and watch for bias or an overly-optimistic interpretation of factual data.