Crash Course in Business Research: Company research
About Public or Private Companies
A good first step in your research is to determine if a company is public or private. A public company is usually traded on a stock exchange and as such is often required to provide detailed financial information and more.
On the other hand data on private companies can be difficult to come by - particularly in the United States. Good sources of information for private companies include news articles and incorporation documents. If you can determine where a company has incorporated the State Department for that state will be able to provide you with documentation. Another good source are credit reports - these often require a fee.
Analysts' Reports
- Investext (Mergent Online) This link opens in a new windowDatabase contains investment research reports on companies and industries, prepared by analysts at investment banks, brokerage houses, and consulting firms worldwide.
- LSEG workspace This link opens in a new windowRefinitiv Workspace contains public and private company information for both U.S. and international firms, investment reports, breaking news and economic statistics. It covers a broad range of financial market trends, and includes deals data, private equity/venture capital coverage, and environmental performance information (ESG). After Market Research reports are from well-known investment analyst firms. Refinitiv Workspace provides access to the broadest and deepest coverage of financial data, news, analytics and productivity tools.
Databases
- Amadeus [available via WRDS]Amadeus is a pan-European financial database containing information on over 10 million public and private companies from 41 countries, including all the EU countries and Eastern Europe. Up to 10 years of detailed information (consolidated statements are also provided when available) comprising 24 balance sheet items, 25 profit and loss account items and 26 ratios. The descriptive information includes: official national identification number, address, telephone, fax, website, legal form, year of incorporation, senior managers, auditors, number of employees, quoted/unquoted indicator, industry and activity codes and, when available, a trade description in the local language and English.
- BankFocus This link opens in a new windowInformation on over 30,000 public and private banks worldwide. It combines data from the main information provider, Fitch Ratings, and nine other sources, with software for searching and analysis.
- Bloomberg [available in Watson and DSSC]Online database providing current and historical financial quotes, business newswires, and descriptive information, research and statistics on over 52,000 companies worldwide. Printing and downloading are available. For search help see our Bloomberg Help Guide. There is also Bloomberg terminals available in the Digital Social Science Center in Lehman Library.
- Capital IQ This link opens in a new windowA unique platform combing detailed information on investment banking, private equity, corporations, investment management, professional services, and brokerage.
- Compustat [available via WRDS]Includes Compustat North America, Compustat Global, and Emerging Markets Data Base. Compustat North America is a database of U.S. and Canadian fundamental and market information on active and inactive publicly held companies. It provides more than 300 annual and 100 quarterly Income Statement, Balance Sheet, Statement of Cash Flows, and supplemental data items. Compustat Global is a database of non-U.S. and non-Canadian fundamental and market information on more than 33,900 active and inactive publicly held companies with annual data history from 1987. Standard & Poor's Emerging Markets Data Base (EMDB) serves as a vital statistical resource for the international financial community. With information collected since 1975, EMDB was the first database to track emerging stock markets.
- Data Axle reference solutions This link opens in a new windowDirectory information on U.S. and Canadian business, health care, and residential listings. Search by company name, geographic area, business type, SIC code, yellow page listing, revenue, location, number of employees or any combination of the above. In addition to address and phone number, each entry includes officer names and titles, corporate affiliation, business type and size of yellow page advertising. Toll free and fax numbers are given for some companies.
- EMIS This link opens in a new windowFull-text news, financial and economic information on emerging market countries in Latin America, Central & Eastern Europe, East, South and Southeast Asia, Southeast Europe, Central Asia and Caucasus, Africa and Middle East.
- FactSet. This link opens in a new windowGlobal financial markets data, company information, equity, fixed income data, etc.
- LSEG workspace This link opens in a new windowRefinitiv Workspace contains public and private company information for both U.S. and international firms, investment reports, breaking news and economic statistics. It covers a broad range of financial market trends, and includes deals data, private equity/venture capital coverage, and environmental performance information (ESG). After Market Research reports are from well-known investment analyst firms. Refinitiv Workspace provides access to the broadest and deepest coverage of financial data, news, analytics and productivity tools.
- Orbis / Bureau van Dijk. This link opens in a new windowIntegrates data from all of BvDEP's databases. "ORBIS includes full searching facilities and global standard report format for in-depth international searching and analysis."