Research and Course Guides: Business Externship: Research: Resources

Company Research: Sources

In researching your company, there are several resources worth consulting. Here is a small list of useful databases, the content they contain and why they might be helpful.

News/Press Releases: Get up-to-date news reports on events occurring at your company. Includes financial information, major controversies or legal cases, and changes in business strategies. Can be found on: Mergent Online, Standard & Poor's NetAdvantage, Factiva, D&B Hoovers, ReferenceUSA, Google Finance, Yahoo Finance.

Financial Statements/Annual Reports: Once you get pass the income statement, balance sheet and cash flow statement, much of a company's annual report contain very useful and practical information about the company's objectives/performance, main growth areas, product execution and strategies to be pursued in coming years. The 10k Annual Report contains the easy-to-understand summary of company initiatives and past year performance for investors. See: Edgar (SEC) or any company profiler.

Company Profilers: Company Profilers are subscription databases that provide comprehensive, one-stop-shop coverage of a company, complete with news, financial statements, stock reports, wider industry reports, competitors, and lists of reported case decisions.

Litigation/Legal Data: If you are working for a legal department within a company, and you want to get a preview of what kind of legal cases that the company often deals with- Bloomberg Representation Analytics can provide an overview of recent cases, firms and legal areas that the company was involved in.

Review Sites: Sites like Glassdoor provide good overviews about the culture and experiences of current and past employees.

Financial Statements

Edgar (SEC)
All companies, foreign and domestic, are required to file registration statements, periodic reports, and other forms electronically through EDGAR. Here you'll find links to a complete list of filings available through EDGAR and instructions for searching the EDGAR database. Filings cover 1996-present.
Google Finance
Similar to Yahoo. Company profiles with stock information,SEC filings, historical charts, etc.
Yahoo Finance
Information includes a daily market summary, market index, currency rates, financial news and SEC Filings. Includes historical stock prices, extensive company profiles, some industry information and more.
Bloomberg- Company Report Writer
Company Report Writer provides maximum flexibility to export data from Bloomberg Law’s extensive company profiles. Includes: Company Overview, Issuer Credit Ratings, Historical Price and Earnings Data, Most Recent Litigation, Company Management, Financial Results, Debt and Equity Offerings , Holdings, Company Hierarchy, Corporate Actions, Most Recent Filings, Recent Company News.

News Reports

Factiva
Full-text online service for international news and business information. Covers over 28,000 sources in 23 languages in more than 150 countries. Some company and market research is included. Factiva includes full-text coverage of the Wall Street Journal.
Google News
Google News aggregates headlines from more than 4,500 English-language news sources worldwide, groups similar stories together and displays them according to each reader's personalized interests. Worth using the search feature for your specific company to find recent headlines.

ProQuest US Newsstream, including Star Tribune This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
US Newsstream enables users to search current U.S. news content, as well as archives that stretch back into the 1980s. It features top newspapers, wires, broadcast transcripts, along with national and regional news sources including The New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Star Tribune, Los Angeles Times, Boston Globe, and Chicago Tribune.
Access World News This link opens in a new window
This database contains electronic editions of thousands of local, national and international newspapers, along with broadcast transcripts and college and university news. It also includes the St. Paul Pioneer Press and the Star Tribune.

Review Sites

GlassDoor
Glassdoor is a free jobs and career community that offers the world an inside look at jobs and companies, providing users with access to in-depth details about the internal culture and workings of a company. Note: must register to view the reviews.
Career Bliss
Reviews and notes from former and current employees of a company. Notes: Must register to view content.

Company Profiles

Mergent Online

Profiles Contain: News, Company Details (synopsis of the firm’s history, objectives, business structure and segments), Reports (Annual financial statements and annual reports). Substantial private firm database.

Instructions:

Select US Company Database (Active)
Company search with your companies name.

Standard & Poor's NetAdvantage

Profiles Contain: News/Press Releases, Basic Profile Summary (business description, number of employees, industries firm sells products in, Stock Reports (provide industry and company outlooks, details on operations), Industry Surveys (provide information about the industry and competitors associated with firm)

Instructions:

Search by your company name under "Quick Links".

Factiva

Profiles Contain: Provides News, MultiMedia (video and TV segments), Key Developments (editorial enhancement by Reuters highlighting major changes to firm structure, policies, etc), Peer Comparison, Company Report.

Instructions:

To find the reports in Factiva click on "Company" under the Companies/Markets tab in the upper left hand corner. Type in the name of your company and choose it from the list that will appear, then use the links in the upper left hand corner to access the reports

D&B Hoovers

Profiles Contain: Company Summary: Provides a business description, executive list, significant developments (legal, mergers, divestitures, strategic combinations), news, financial summary, stock information, Analyst Reports (often provide key insights into the firm, its internal operations, competitors, and market, Annual Reports, Financial Statements

Instructions:

On the first landing page for this resource, look up your company by name in the search bar at the top right.

ReferenceUSA

Profiles Contain: Information on over 14 million U.S. public and private companies, including contact information, estimated financials for private companies, industry codes, and more. Substantial private firm database.

Instructions:

Select "U.S. Businesses" and then search.
Enter a company name in quick search.

Litigation Analyzers

Bloomberg- Representation Analytics
Representation Analytics shows users the top law firms representing a particular company and the top companies a particular law firm represents in federal litigation. This tool features dynamic charts and graphs to help users visualize how legal work is distributed by a particular company and to recognize trends