Company Research  Tags: public_companies  

During the fall and spring semesters, Reference Librarians are available:

• Monday: 9 am to 10 pm
• Tuesday: 9 am to 10 pm
• Wednesday: 9 am to 10 pm
• Thursday: 9 am to 9 pm
• Friday: 9 am to 8 pm
• Saturday: 1 to 6 pm
• Sunday: 1 to 10 pm

Business Library Reference Desk: Room 2200 Grainger Hall 608-265-6202

Ask Business - email a Business Reference Librarian

Public companies issue stock that is bought and sold on exchanges such as the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), NASDAQ or the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE).

Each company is assigned a ticker symbol such as GOOG for Google, or MSFT for Microsoft. Some databases are easier to search if you know the company's ticker symbol.

Information on public companies is available from many sources. Each of the boxes below identifies databases and other sources of company information. Most databases are available on and off campus to UW-Madison students and staff.

Mergent Horizon - comprehensive coverage for all companies that are actively traded on the NYSE, AMEX and NASDAQ, with enhanced product-level detail for 3,700 companies in the Healthcare, Technology, Media and Finance sectors.

Mergent Online - Search by company name, ticker or CUSIP number. Choose from among the tabs at the top of the screen. This is the only database that includes companies that were acquired, went bankrupt, liquidated or merged out of existence from 1996 to the present.

OneSource - Search by company name or ticker symbol. In addition to the information on the first screen, use the links under "Profile" in the left margin.

Annual Reports to Shareholders are issued approximately 3 months after the end of a company's fiscal year. They provide financial information and an overview of a company's activities over the previous year. The President's Letter and/or Management Discussion often include vauluable insights into their goals and expectations for the future.

OneSource and Mergent Online provide more than 10 years of annual reports for most publicly traded companies.

The library also has paper copies of annual reports for most Fortune 500 companies and Wisconsin companies that are publicly traded. These may be checked out at the Circulation Desk.

The Securities and Exchange Commission requires a variety of forms from companies whose stock is traded on U.S. exchanges. These filings can be found in Mergent Horizon, Mergent Online and OneSource. The most common filings are described below.

The 10K is the Annual Financial Report which includes much more information than just the financials. It includes a detailed description of the business, the market conditions and outlook for the future, risk factors, and the Management's Discussion and Analysis. Much of this information is not easily found elsewhere.

The 20-F is the Annual Financial Report issued by companies headquartered outside the U.S.

The 10Q is the Quarterly Financial Report which is issued at the end of each quarter, except at the end of the fiscal year when the 10K is published. These are updates to the 10K.

The 14A Proxy Statement is the announcement of the stockholders' annual meeting and the items to be voted on. Because executive compensation is approved at these meetings, the salaries, stock options and other compensation of all officers and directors is included.

The 8K is a report of unscheduled events or corporate changes. It may provide supplemental sales information, the announcement of a stock split, or the planned retirement of an officer.

A Prospectus is issued when a company is offering new shares of stock to be sold. It must include a description of the company, risk factors the company faces and other relevent information.

Descriptions of all SEC filings are available in the Thomson Research Guide to SEC Filings.

Analysts' Reports are a rich source of company information.

OneSource - Search by company name or ticker symbol. The link for Analysts' Reports is in the left margin under "News & Analysis".

ValueLine Investment Survey analyzes 1700 public companies. It is available on one computer in the Business Library and in the Reference Collection.

Public companies are required by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to disclose very detailed financial information. These SEC filings are described in the "SEC Filings" box above.

If you prefer a more direct route to company financials, use the following databases.

Factiva - This is a huge database with a wide variety of information. To find a company's financial information:

1. At the top of the screen, click on "Companies/Markets".
2. In the next line, select "Company".
3. Search by company name or ticker symbol.
4. In the left margin, click on "Financial Results".
5. From the drop down menu, choose Balance Sheet, Cash Flow, Income Statement or Key Ratios.
6. Click on "Show Details".

Mergent Horizon - comprehensive coverage for all companies that are actively traded on the NYSE, AMEX and NASDAQ, with enhanced product-level detail for 3,700 companies in the Healthcare, Technology, Media and Finance sectors.

Mergent Online - Search by company name, ticker or CUSIP number. Select the "Company Financials" tab.

OneSource - Search by company name or ticker symbol. Select the links in the left margin under "Financials".

The Bloomberg database is available on 1 computer in the Business Library. It can only be used by UW-Madison students and staff. Search by entering the ticker symbol, hit the yellow "Equity" key and then the green "Go" key.

ValueLine Investment Survey -- Reference HG 4921 V3 R4 ValueLine is a quarterly publication which provides statistical and analytical information on 1700 companies. It is also available on CD-ROM at 1 computer in the Business Library.

Bond information is available in Mergent BondViewer.

Ratios are useful for comparing a company with its industry. Some of the most common are:

• Beta - reflects the volatility of a company's stock price.
• Current ratio - current assets divided by current liabilities. It indicates how well a company is able to pay its current bills.
  
• Quick ratio - current assets minus inventory, divided by current liabilities. It sets a higher standard than the current ratio.
• P/E (price to earnings) ratio - price per share divided by the earnings per share. Generally, the higher the ratio, the riskier the stock.

Company and industry ratios can be found in:

OneSource - search by company name or ticker symbol and click on Valuation in the left margin. It provides company, industry, sector and S&P 500 ratios.

Factiva - click on Companies/Markets, click on Company, search by company name or ticker symbol, click on Reports and then Ratio Comparison Report. It provides company, industry, sector and S&P 500 ratios.

The Bloomberg database is available on 1 computer in the Business Library. It can only be used by UW-Madison students and staff. Search by entering the ticker symbol, hit the yellow "Equity" key and then the green "Go" key.

Parent companies are not required to report financial information for each of their subsidiaries.

Subsidiaries are searchable in OneSource. The "Corporate Family" link in the left margin provides a list of all subsidiaries, their locations, sales and number of employees.

The web sites of the parent company and its subsidiaries often contain useful information.

Newspaper and magazine articles can provide additional information. For example, American Girl is a subsidiary of Mattel and is frequently in the news.

See the "Latest News" tab for a list of article databases.