High-Level
Company
Information
Before starting your Internet research, determine whether the company is publicly held (traded on a stock exchange), privately owned, or a subsidiary of a publicly held organization.
You will be much more successful in obtaining information on publicly held companies.
Public companies must report certain financial information to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and their shareholders.
Also, serious investors use the Internet to research potential stock purchases or monitor companies in their portfolios.
As a result, the Internet provides much more information on public corporations than on private companies.
TICKER SYMBOL
A key first step in Internet business research is to identify the stock exchange ticker symbol for the company of interest. Either of the following sites will identify the ticker symbol for a public company. Be sure to make a note of each symbol, as you will be using this information throughout the research process.COMPANY OVERVIEW
If you successfully identified the ticker symbol, you can collect some quick, useful summary information at the following sites. If you were unable to locate a ticker symbol for your company, you may be researching a private company or a subsidiary of a public company. Try typing the company name in the search box. If you determine that your company is a subsidiary of a public company, you will be more successful if you focus your research on the parent organization.Hoover's Online is a widely respected service that provides timely and detailed information on over 50,000 public and private companies.
Corporate Information provides U.S. and international company information including research reports, company profiles, earnings information, and analyst reports. (NOTE: Visitors must register to use this free site.)
Business.com offers news, research, and contacts for 10,000 public companies and 44,000 private companies.
If you are looking for information on a private company, Public Record Databases may reveal some information.
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