This is a guide to selected sources of company information both in print copy in the Turchin Library or electronically through the Web or Library database . For assistance, please see a member of the library staff, call x5376, or email us (turchin@mailhost. tcs.tulane.edu).
Public vs. Private Companies
When searching for company information, it is important to determine whether the company is public or private. Public companies are those which issue stock and trade on one of the stock exchanges. They are required to register and file reports with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), while private companies do not have to make this type of information available to the public. Public companies will have a ticker symbol (usually a few letters in caps) which is used as a substitute for the company's name on the exchange on which shares in the company trade.
Directories
These directories will include both private and public companies:
1) Directory of Corporate Affiliations
2) Million Dollar Directory
3) Ward's Business Directory
4) American Business Disc - CD-ROM (Library Network)
5) S&P Register of Corporations, Directors, and Executives
6) Hoover's Handbook of American Business. Profiles of major
corporations.
7) Ward's Private Company Profiles.
8) Dun's Business Rankings
History & Background Information
1) International Directory of Company Histories
A multi-volume set, these volumes include several pages on international
and domestic companies, both public and private, along with a bibliography
of source articles. An excellent place to get a quick overview of a company.
Web Sites
While a lot of commercial sites on the Web are nothing more than glossy brochures, other sites have a lot of handy information. Often the government pages, and other non-commercial pages are the best bets for statistical information. Generally, for-profit companies are not going to give away information and analysis on the Web that they need to sell to stay in business, however, some sites are beginning to set up fee-based services. Web commerce and delivery of information is becoming more and more important, as security measures become more sophisticated.
Listed here are mostly sites of collections of other sites. There are just too many individual sites to list for the purposes of this handout. Once a useful site is found, mark it for future reference in your Web browser.
Business & Ivesting by Quicken.Com
Pages produced in tandem with Excite, Disclosure,
and I/B/E/S, the Quicken pages contain current quotes, charts, news, list
of competitors within the industry, broker recommendations, financials,
management discussion, and SEC filings. http://quicken.excite.com/investments
Corporate Information
A site of links relating to international and domestic
companies maintained by an individual. http://www.corporateinformation.com
Yahoo Finance News
Charts, and financials on publically traded companies.
Spreadsheets can be downloaded. http://quote.yahoo.com
Wall Street Research Net
Includes US and Canadian Companies with company
links, SEC filings, quotes, news, earnings estimates, graphs & charts,
and reports and other research. Some information is available by subscription
only. http://
NIRI Member Companies on the Web
National Investor Relations Institute Site list links to members alphabetically.
http://www.niri.org/complink.htm
Corporate SEC Reports
There are several sources for current and past reports.
1) Some annual reports are available in our collection in paper format.
2) Global Access on our library Web Page (http://www.tulane.edu/~turchin/edata.html)
contains text and financial data from the 10-K's, 10-Q's, 20-F's, proxy
statements, registrations statement, and annual report to the shareholders.
3) Dow Jones News Retrieval - "Company & Industry Data"
4) Bloomberg Terminals
5) Lexis/Nexis - Company Library
6) Compustat PC-Plus Produced by Standard & Poor's,
this is a financial database of over 14,370 companies. In addition to company
information, Compustat PC-Plus contains Industry Segment annual data for
active companies with up to 10 segments per company per year for 7 years.
Updated annually.
7) Edgar on the Web
8) From Web sites (see above)
9) Microfiche Set from Q-Data contains annual reports, complete 10-K's,
and proxy statements
Investment Services
1) Moody's Manuals. Provide detailed information on company history, subsidiaries, business and products, comparative balance sheets, stock and bond descriptions and more. Geographic indexes classify companies by industry and product.
2) Value Line Investment Survey, Expanded Investment Survey, Selection & Opinion, and OTC Special Situation Service. Quarterly reports on companies arranged by industry, including weekly and biweekly selections and recommendations.
3) Standard & Poors's The Outlook. A weekly investment newsletter,
this publication analyzes and projects business and stock market trends.
Profiles and rates individual selections with buy/sell recommendations,
along with a recommended portfolio of holdings.
Indexes to Journal and Newspaper Articles
Periodical indexes are a means of tracking magazine and newspaper articles without having to look at each issue of each periodical. Electronic indices have a number of access points, including company names, industries, subjects and keywords, and search results can be downloaded. This is also a means of finding news and information on private companies.
ABI/INFORM Global Management Databases (1987-present). Features 150 word abstracts and indexes to over 800 periodicals including the core finance journals, as well as most of the popular business and investment magazines. Newspapers are not included in this index. This electronic index can be searched by company, keyword, subject, and journal. ABI is accessed though the library local area network.
Business & Industry (latest 16 months). Full text and abstracts from over 600 trade and business publications, including newspapers, from over 30 countries. Contains facts, figures, trends, forecasts and overviews regarding public and private companies, industries, markets, and products. This index is accessed though the library Web pages.
Dow-Jones News Retrieval. Full text of the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, the Washington Post, as well as 3500 other news sources and business periodicals. Includes some of the more important academic journals as well.
Lexis/Nexis Databases. An online system, there are a number of "libraries" that contain company information, including full-text of a number of newspapers and magazines. Invaluable source of information regarding private companies. Downloads/printouts are available only screen by screen. Refer to the Lexis handouts for more information. This is available only within the Library.
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