Course: 22: 390: 501 Essentials of Strategic Written Communications
Roadmap for finding company information
Are you looking for an overview of the company?
Overviews will give you a company history, a revenue analysis, and potentially a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis.
- Company websiteLocate your company website by searching Google. Useful information can often be found under the categories like "About Company," "Press Releases," or "For Investors."
- MarketLineProvides access to MarketLine reports on companies which include company histories, key executives, a business description, a revenue analysis, a SWOT analysis, and key competitors.
- Hoover's Company Profiles (via Westlaw Campus Research)Provides access to company reports on companies which include company histories, key executives, a business description, a revenue analysis, a SWOT analysis, and key competitors.
Go to WestLawNext, click "News," then click Hoover's Company Profile under "Tools and Resources".
Is the company publicly or privately owned? If a company is public, there will be much more information available; if a company is private, it may be more challenging to find some financial information.
How can I determine if a company is public or private?
Bloomberg Business Week has a list of public companies. You can search by the name of the company at http://www.bloomberg.com/research/common/symbollookup/symbollookup.asp
In addition, if you go to Yahoo! Finance, http://finance.yahoo.com and find the ticker symbol for the company, then the company is a publicly held company. A private company does not sell stock to the general public, and the stock is not traded on an exchange.
Are there any news articles or journal articles that covers the company?
You can find articles about your company using the following databases. Try to be flexible in how you search. If necessary, try searching for a product name along with the company name. For example, try searching the terms "wearables" or "smartwatches" when you want to find information about the company "Fitbit".
- Business Source PremierFind articles about your company and its products
- FactivaProvides access to thousands of international publications, including The Wall Street Journal.
- Access World NewsSearch for New Jersey-specific content from are newspapers
Are you looking for financial data about the public company? Looking at a company's financial performance over a period of several years can give you a clear picture of where it is headed.
- IBISWorldBISWorld provides reports for all of the 723 industries in the United States as categorized by the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS). IBISWorld research reports contain trends, statistics and analysis on market size, market share of competitors, and industry growth rates. Performance analysis includes emerging industry trends as well as recent production performance and 5 year forecasts.
- MarketLineMarketLine provides original industry, company, market analysis, and country reports and data based on published research and primary and secondary data sources. This growing collection currently includes 3,500 industry profiles, market data on 150 consumer products in over 60 countries, 30,000 company profiles, 2,500 company SWOT analyses, summaries of 50,000 M&A and financial deals, 110 country profiles, and economic and demographic indicators for 215 countries.
- Mergent OnlineProvides up to 15 years (or more) of annual and quarterly financial data for public companies only. Has corporate histories including mergers and acquisitions, lists of any subsidiaries and property holdings, and links to SEC filings and stakeholder annual reports.
- Global Financial DataThe Global Financial Database is an international collection of historical and current financial and economic data. Covering more than 150 different countries, it provides over 30,000 different data series that are immediately downloadable from the website. Rutgers subscribes to the GFDatabase, but does not subscribe or have access to the US Stock Database, UK Stock Database, or the Real Estate Database.
What if I need to research a private company?
Looking for information for private companies could be difficult. Start with searching PrivCo.
PrivCo lists company profiles and financial information. It also lists M & A activities for the industry that the company is associated with. It also has venture capitalists' activities related to the industry. While its main focus in on private companies, it may list some information related to public companies if their businesses or activities are related to some private companies. If you are looking for public company information, you should not solely rely on PrivCo.
The following article contains a checklist that is prepared for professionals who want to research a private company. You will find the checklist handy when locating information for a private company. Click the link below and login with your Rutgers NetID.
Ojala, Marydee. "Checklists for Private Company Research.” Online 35, no. 1 (February 1, 2011): 48–50.