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Company
Information
In
general U.S. companies must either be public or private.
- A
private company is owned by a single person or a select
group of people. It is not traded on a stock exchange
(New York Stock Exchange, NASDAQ, etc). Therefore it is
not required to file documents to the Securities & Exchange
Commission(SEC). In essence, it does not have to
tell anyone
anything about its business.
- A
public company is owned by shareholders. It is
traded on a stock exchange and by law must file
certain documents to the SEC. Therefore finding information
on a public company is much easier than find information on a
private company.
A public
company must publish a series of documents that are available to
the general public. This can include the following:
- 10
- K = Annual filing of financial information.
- 10
- Q = Quarterly filing of financial information.
- Prospectus
= Document detailing the benefits of investing in the company,
sent out to potential investors.
- Proxy
= Document sent out to current shareholders discussing recent
changes and often allowing shareholders to vote for corporate
officers.
- Annual
Report = Document sent out to current shareholders detailing
the previous year´s activities including some financial information
from the 10 - K.
Other
documents that both public and private companies can produce include:
- Press
Releases = announcing company events, position changes, etc.
- Product
Announcements = announcing new products or services.
- Marketing/Promotional
Literature = information on products, advertising campaigns,
prices, etc.
Where
to go for this type of information:
Business
& Company Resource Center
Best for: Public & private companies including divisions
and subsidiaries, company histories, products, competitors, recent
litigation, and market rankings.
Hoover's
Best for: Major public & private companies, excellent mix
of information (company history/snapshot, financials, products,
competitors, recent articles/press releases).
Thomson
Research
Best for: Public company documents (Proxies, annual reports,
10-Qs, 10-Ks, plus more.)
MergentOnline
Best for: Public company documents, information on long term
debt, property, subsidiaries, income and financial statement analysis.
ReferenceUSA
(M & E Library Only)
Best for: 1,000,000+ companies, public, private and subsidiaries.
Includes contact information, credit rating, size and parent company
information. Lots of small companies.
See also Market
Insight
Best for: Public Companies. Contains investment analysis
as well as snapshot of company's activities and overview of its
industry. Also provides excellent information on competitors
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