Steps for Company Research
1. Identify the Company
Find out about the company and what it does. A good starting place is Yahoo Finance. Search by company name or ticker and then select profile. Determine whether the company is public or private. U.S. public companies must file reports with the SEC. Public companies are generally much easier to research. For private companies, you may need to rely primarily on articles in the press. Check major exchanges such as NYSE or NASDAQ to see if a company is listed there.
2. Profile the Company
Check Business Source Complete for basic overview of the company's business. In Business Source Complete, you can find company information easily by clicking on "Company Information" in the blue bar at the top. Then you can search by company name. Another good resource for company profiles is Hoover's Company Records available via Proquest.
3. Find Current News and In-Depth Articles about the Company
Articles published in business magazines and trade journals often provide added depth and insight into a company's operations, strategy and competition. DISCOVER is a GALILEO search tool that allows you to search many different sources at once. Both ABI/Inform and Business Source Complete index, abstract and provide full-text for leading English language business and economics magazines and journals. You can also check any of the various business websites that focus on business news such as Bloomberg, CNNMoney, MarketWatch, Yahoo! Finance or Google Business News.
4. Visit the Company's website.
You can learn a lot about a company by examining its website. You can usually guess a company's website by going to www.[insertcompanyname].com or by searching it on Google.
5. Check out the Company's Financials and Market Performance
Public companies issue annual and quarterly financial statements containing income statements, balance sheets and cash flow statements that reveal their financial status. You can find financial statements from public companies on the SEC EDGAR site. Additionally, you can find financial information on the SimFin site The daily stock market reflects investors' collective opinion on publicly traded companies' current performance and future prospects.
6. Clarify the Company's Strategy
U.S. public companies usually succinctly state their Business Strategy in "Item 1. Business" of their Form 10-K, which is the annual report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. 10-Ks are included in the SEC EDGAR database. The Business overview in the 10-K provides a detailed discussion of the company's strategy, products and services, operations, marketing, distribution, international business, suppliers and government regulation as well as competitive conditions in the industry.
7. Survey the Industry and Competition
When researching a company, it is always important to examine the industry in which that company operates. You can find industry information by going to ABI/Inform and selecting Browse in the top menu and then look under "Browse reports on industries and markets".
8. Compare Company/Industry Norms and Financial Ratios
SimFin has detailed, exportable financial reports for select publicly-traded companies. You can compare any company with its peers and download the data into Excel. Search for a company by its ticker symbol and then select the Analysis tab.
Company ratios are also available on the NASDAQ site. Click on Market Activity, Stocks and then search by ticker symbol. Once you find your company select financials on the left column and then financial ratios. An additional source for company ratios is Morningstar. Enter a company name or stock ticker symbol and then select key ratios that appears next to the stock quote.
Some industry ratios are available on MSN Money. Enter a stock quote to search on and then click Analysis and scroll down to Financial Health.
9. Conduct a SWOT analysis
S.W.O.T. is an acronym that stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. A SWOT analysis is an organized list of a company’s greatest strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. You can see an example of a SWOT analysis in the Business Source Complete database. Step by step instructions for pulling a SWOT analysis report are available here. Note that not all companies have a SWOT analysis available.
The original company and industry guides were created by Peter McKay and licensed by University of Florida Library under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported license. Permission to modify gratefully acknowledged
Steps for Industry Research
1. Find the SIC / NAICS codes
Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) codes were developed to help the Census Bureau and other statistical agencies gather data on industries. You may need this code to find lists of companies in an industry or look up statistical and financial data for an industry.
The North American Industrial Classification System (NAICS) was created to replace SIC codes because so many new industries had emerged there were not enough four digit SIC codes to classify these new industries. NAICS codes are 6 digits. SIC codes are 4 digits. Since older data is still classified under the SIC codes you may need both codes for your research.
(Hint: Try 445110 for grocery stores)
You can also find relevant NAICS and SIC codes for a company's industry by searching Business Source Complete under Company Information (in the blue bar at top of screen). Search for the company and then click the + sign next to Industry near the bottom of the page.
2. Locate Industry Surveys and other Reports
You can find industry information by going to ABI/Inform and selecting the Browse link at the top of the page. Under Browse Featured Content/Industry and Market Research, take a look at the reports available from Business Monitor and First Research. In Business Source Complete, click Company Information (in the blue bar at top of screen). Search for the company and then click "Industry Profiles" on the left side of the page. You can also find Market Research Reports here. Sample market research report for grocery stores.
3. Find Current News and In-depth Articles about the Industry
Articles published in leading business magazines, trade journals and newspapers often provide added depth and insight into an industry’s structure, strategy and competition. Both ABI/Inform and Business Source Complete index, abstract and provide full-text for leading English-language business and trade magazines and journals. The Wall Street Journal covers most major industry developments.
4. Find a Relevant Trade Association
Nearly every type of business has one or more trade or professional associations to promote its interests and provide a forum to collect and share information. Here is a good resource for finding associations.
Embedded within this database, you'll find First Research.
Provides industry profiles covering over 1000 industry segments.
Follow these steps to access:
1. From the dark green banner at the top of the page, select: Browse
2. Under Industry and Market Research, select: First Research
3. Scroll down to find your industry.
4.Select: View Documents
5. Select a .PDF document that looks interesting. Scroll to the end and find a segment titled: Industry Websites. You'll find a list of associations that monitor your industry.
5. Use 10-Ks from Leading Companies to Gain Industry Insight
The Form 10-K is the annual report that U.S. public companies must file with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). In the Business Overview Section (Item 1, Part 1., Business), companies are required to discuss the nature of competition in their industry. This section often delivers key insights into the competitive factors that shape an industry. You can retrieve 10-Ks in the SEC EDGAR database.