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[Picking a Company] [Company Financials] [Stock Information] [Stock Exchanges] [Other Resources]

Introduction

Things you need to know:

Public companies issue stock that can be traded on one of the open exchanges. These companies are required to file financial information with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in the form of a 10-K report. They also issue annual reports for stockholders.
Subsidiaries are a part of a parent company. Often separate financial information is not available.
Private companies have a limited number of shareholders, do not issue stock and do not have to provide financial information to the public.
SIC Codes (Bus R338.020973 St2st 1987) are a classification code system used to define industry type. Used as a benchmark to record numerical data about an industry, codes were recently revised to reflect the North American market (new codes are called NAICS for the North American Industry Classification System Bus R338.02127 N81no). Usually four digits, these new codes are six.

Picking a Company

ReferenceUSA the American Business Directory - from the local to the national level this is the most exhaustive of the commercial databases.

ReferenceUSA contains company address, current address, telephone number, employment data, key contact and title, primary Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) code, yellow pages and brand/trade name information, actual and estimated financial data, and corporate linkages on over 12 million U.S. business establishments. Data is compiled through a continuous updating cycle of compilation from print sources (including over 5,000 yellow-page books) and telephone interviews capturing additional data, such as primary line of business, key contacts, and actual employee size. Annual reports are used for public company data.

Business and Company Resource Center. - The BCRC covers about 500,000 companies but does so the financial and periodical information. The market data that is included in the file comes from Reuters and other business publications.

Business and Company Resource Center is a fully integrated resource bringing together company profiles, brand information, rankings, investment reports, company histories, chronologies and periodicals. Search this database to find detailed company and industry news and information.

Hoover's Stock Database

Use this FREE but limited version of Hoover's to find basic information about a company: addresses, company histories and a link to current articles.

LEXIS NEXIS Company Profile Search - This link defaults to the company profile search at LEXIS-NEXIS and touches on the following search sources.

Bankruptcy Reports: US companies with more than $50 million in assets that are in bankruptcy, including company profiles, reorganization plans, and other news.

Hoover's Company Reports: Contains invaluable information for over 15,000 major public and private companies worldwide.

International Company Reports: All non-US company profiles, covering more than 30,000 companies from Asia and Pacific Rim, Europe, Middle East and Africa, and North and South America. Standard & Poor's Corporate Descriptions: Access to strategic and financial information on more than 9,300 companies.

US Private Companies: US private company profiles, covering more than 200,000 private companies.

Other Directories

Take a look at Thomas Register. Many public and academic libraries carry this in their collection. It is a manufacturer's directory. It list (for a fee) the products of a manufacturer so that a purchasing agent can quickly find who sells a particular product. Thomas wants this in as many info centers as possible. They make money from those that list in the volume not from the sales of the volumes. Take a look at manufactures at Thomas Register.

Take a look at NC Secretary of State and search for a corporate name (try Krispy Kreme). Incorporation documents are included here and you can also find documents on the company public offerings. This is one of the methods that the researcher can use to find information on newly incorporated companies.

Company Financials

Mergent Reports Online - by quarters or by years, national or international company data is easy to find at Mergent.

Mergent(Moody's) Company Financial and Annual Reports now Mergent’s Online, features rich textual descriptions and offer a wealth of detail on items including business description, history, property, subsidiaries, officers and directors, long-term debt and capital stock. Financial statements are presented in native currencies thus maintaining the full integrity of this critical information. In addition Mergents Online provides business and financial information for 23,000 U.S. and international companies. SEC filings (real-time and archived to 1993) are included for the 10,000+ NYSE, AMEX and NASDAQ exchange companies. Financials for 15 years are "as reported" and can be downloaded to spreadsheet software such as Microsoft Excel. Annual reports, where available, begin with 1997 and will be archived. Fact sheets (updated quarterly) giving a company overview, ratios, and prospects are available for 2,000 U.S. companies. Recent news stories about a company are listed for 6 weeks

LEXIS NEXIS Company Financial Search - this link defaults to the Disclosure company data search.

Disclosure Reports: Disclosure(R) Online Database contains business and financial information extracted from annual and periodic reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for over 10,000 publicly-owned companies. NAARS - Annual Reports 1984 - 1995: Corporate annual reports (over 80,000 reports) beginning in 1984, including portions of companies annual reports to shareholders. NAARS - Annual Reports 1972 - 1984, Archived: Contains an archive of corporate annual reports (over 48,000 reports) ending in June 1984 and beginning in 1972. Stock Reports: Security ownership reports for more than 10,000 US stocks, and earnings projections for more than 3,000 US corporations. US Public Companies: US public company profiles, covering more than 10,000 publicly traded companies.

NAARS - Annual Reports 1984 - 1995: Corporate annual reports (over 80,000 reports) beginning in 1984, including portions of companies annual reports to shareholders.

NAARS - Annual Reports 1972 - 1984, Archived: Contains an archive of corporate annual reports (over 48,000 reports) ending in June 1984 and beginning in 1972.

Stock Reports: Security ownership reports for more than 10,000 US stocks, and earnings projections for more than 3,000 US corporations.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)

Search public companies by name to find 10-K and other audited financial reports. To go right to the search options click on Edgar Online Search and pick a form type (such as 10k) and a company name. Some researchers also like to use the FreeEdgar online searching. Reports are often seen in a more readable version.

Stock Information

It is helpful to look at what stock analysts have to say about a company's financial health by how their stock performs: in relation to other companies, the stock market as a whole, a part of the market such as the Dow Jones, or another company. These pages are FREE TO SEARCH and will help with this type of analysis.

The BigCharts Database

Look here to compare a stock's performance to other stocks and to stock indicators such as the S&P 500.

Companies Online Information Database.

This is a Dunn & Bradstreet database. Look here to get a current stock quote on a company of interest, look up the company name, link to its homepage and find articles and current news about the company.

The Investors Connections Business Inc.

Use this source to order free copies of annual reports. Also useful for company information and mutual funds.

MorningStar Stock and Company Reports

MorningStar is a data service that provides listing and analysis of over 20,000 stocks and funds. Using their screen helps, the patron can look at and compare many stocks and funds. This resource is one of the few that actually ranks mutual funds fund managers as well as individual stocks.

Valueline Stock Database - look up stock information, mutual funds or industry data.

Look here for information on 1700 public companies. Evaluations, analysis and tables of company information are located here.
Here are examples of two Valueline reports. The first is for a company while the second is the industry report for that same company. Can you find these two reports for your company?
Mondavi Valueline Report
Alcoholic Beverage Industry Report

Wall Street Journal Research Network

Site includes current information on the market, headlines from the current issue of the journal as well as links to current economic data.

Yahoo!! Stock Quotes Database

Look here to read current news on the market and look up information on your company.

Stock Exchanges

New York Stock Exchange Search Page

Includes a listing of all companies on the NYSE with access to company home pages.

American Stock Exchange Search Page

Search AMEX stock exchange by company.

NASDAQ -- National Association of Security Dealers Automated Quotations Search Page

Search the listings of the NASDAQ.

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The Herman H. and Louise M. Smith Library