Preliminaries - Library Services
Company Overviews
- Company Search in Business & Company Resource Center - quick company profiles, and then use the tabs at the top of the main page for each company to find news articles, investment reports, rankings (click there for market share,) product listings, and excellent company histories.
- Hoover's database has quick summaries, key financial figures and lists of products and competitors in one easy-to-locate source.
- LexisNexis Academic's Company Dossier will get you many kinds of company data from various sources: quick snapshots, corporate hierarchy, financials, legal cases, executives, company structure, etc. Each section can be expanded for more information.
- MarketLine has detailed reports on public and private companies, internationally, including background, analysis and forecasts, and featuring SWOT analyses, from the international research firm Datamonitor.
Company Analysis
- Investext/Thomson Research provides analyst research reports from top banks and brokerage firms.
- Alacra Pulse - key events and commentary from both traditional analysts and alternative media/blog sources.
- Standard & Poor's Netadvantage database offers extensive and reliable financial data and analysis. Especially see the "stock reports."
- Value Line Investment Survey - stock reports with financial performance data, analysis, projections, rankings, beta, key ratios for 3500+ public companies.
Company Websites
Company websites have excellent information, but keep in mind that there could be information bias. Use Google or wikipedia to locate a company's website. Once there, look for the "About the Company" section, and particularly the "Investor Relations" section, where you should find the annual reports and "events" such as conference calls and executive presentations.
Company Directories
Directories provide brief, standardized information, such as address, top executives, sales, and number of employees. They can be general or specialized, and contain information on thousands of companies. One advantage is that they can provide lists of companies with similar characteristics, i.e. a geographical location; a particular industry; a revenue range.
General Directories
- Dun & Bradstreet's Million Dollar Database – contains 23 million companies worldwide. Create and download lists with specific criteria. Use the "Advanced Search" and then the SIC or NAICS Code sections to limit to specific industries.
- Career Search – get this through COC website – you can also get specified lists of companies here (create your account first.)
- Hoover ’s Online – find a company you are interested in, then check “competitors” on left hand side; has selected international companies. You can also "build lists" of companies by using that feature.
- See a short tutorial in exactly how to do this.
Specialized Directories
- CorpTech Directory of Technology Companies - provides profiles of thousands of public and private companies in hundreds of specialized technology areas.
- Thomas Register - for many years the standard American directory of manufacturers, encompassing all types of manufacturing companies and products.
- VentureXpert/Private Equity - VC and PE firms and the companies they fund
- Consultants & Consulting Organizations Directory - describes more than 27,000 consulting firms and consultants, in business, industry, and government, indexed by firm name, consulting activity, and geographic location. Book on Hunt Reference shelves: HD69 .C6 C647.
- CISDM Hedge Fund Data via the WRDS database- information on over 3700 active hedge funds.
News Sources About a Company - Articles in newspapers, magazines, and trade journals are rich in data and information on companies - and also up-to-the-minute.
- Proquest – wide-ranging news database containing many smaller databases within it - only source for full text Wall Street Journal.
- Business & Company Resource Center – articles here are international, very thorough coverage.
- Lexis-Nexis Academic– has the most wide-ranging international, national and local news and trade publications, plus biographical background on individuals and legal cases.
- Bizjournals.com - sometimes the best information is local: free database of business articles for major US cities, including Pittsburgh.
Annual Reports and Financials
- SEC IDEA database - all US public companies and some foreign ones must file their financial reports here; this is the most direct source.
- Standard & Poor's Netadvantage database
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- Mergent Online database -financial data and segments thereof can be displayed and downloaded conveniently
- Company website - look for the "investor relations" section.
Historical financial data from companies:
- Compustat database via WRDS - extensive financial data for public companies from 1950 to the present.
- Value Line Investment Survey - historical stock reports back to 1997.
- Moody's Manuals - financial and securities data for US and international public companies, from 1914, Hunt reference collection microfiche.
- ProQuest Historical Annual Reports - pdf's of annual reports of 800 US companies, with coverage ranging from 1844 to the present.
Questions?
Contact the librarians: