Company & Industry Research Guide
Public vs. Private Companies
Public vs. Private Companies
Companies are either publicly-traded or privately held. Publicly-traded companies are regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and are subject to numerous reporting and disclosure requirements. The filings are designed to provide investors with relevant information to make informed investment decisions and ensure the integrity of the markets by making sure that those with "insider" knowledge about a company, and it's financials, are not able to take advantage of it for their own benefit.
Privately held companies are not subject to SEC reporting and disclosure requirements, which makes finding information about them more difficult.
Start your research on a company's website:
- The About and Contact pages will provide valuable information about the company's mission and values, corporate leadership, physical location, and contact information.
- Investor Relations page may provide detailed information regarding the company's financial performance, past quarterly investor calls, corporate governance documents, and corporate reports. (Much of this information may also be found in the company's EDGAR reports)
*adapted from the Company, Industry, & Market Research guide
Company Research
Below is a list of databases available with the Marriott Library. They provide detailed information regarding both national, international, public and private companies. Read the descriptions and follow the link to the resource that fits your needs. If you are asked to login, use your U credentials.
For pointers on how to conduct a company analysis, check out this Strategic Analysis of Starbucks Corporation.
For data that provides business dynamics, such as job creation and destruction, establishment births and deaths, and firm startups and shutdowns for the economy overall and aggregated by establishment and firm characteristics check the U.S. Census Bureau report, 2022 Business Dynamics Statistics.
Databases
Public Companies
The databases below provide details about public companies.
- Mergent Intellect This link opens in a new windowMergent Intellect is a collection of worldwide business information.
- Factiva This link opens in a new windowThis database provides access to licensed content from Dow Jones journalists, media outlets, trade and consumer publications and business Web sites. Factiva also contains in-depth company, executive and industry profiles, expert analysis, market data and other reports.
- Business Source Premier This link opens in a new windowIncludes the full text for more than 2,300 journals. Full-text results are provided back to 1886, and searchable cited references back to 1998. This database covers many business disciplines, including marketing, management, MIS, POM, accounting, finance and economics. Additional full-text, non-journal content includes market research reports, industry reports, country reports, company profiles and SWOT analyses.
- Nexis Uni This link opens in a new windowNexis Uni™ features more than 15,000 news, business and legal sources from LexisNexis with an intuitive interface that offers discovery across all content types.
- Mergent Online This link opens in a new windowThis database contains searchable data for more than 10,000 companies on the NYSE, AMEX and Nasdaq exchanges. All financials are provided as reported and include information on balance sheets, income statements, expenditures, assets, liabilities, cash flow, performance trends, and more.
- Gale Business Insights: Global This link opens in a new windowProvides students and researchers with the broad yet detailed coverage of international business.
- BCC Research This link opens in a new windowAcademic institutions around the globe subscribe to BCC Research to utilize the vast library of market research reports that aid students, professors, and technology transfer professionals in conducting research projects. Students appreciate the depth and specificity of BCC Research reports, finding it easy to uncover all of the data they need, from growth trends and market opportunities to geographic breakdowns and company profiles.
- Value Line This link opens in a new windowThis database provides access to documents and financial information for a variety of companies.
- IBISWorld This link opens in a new windowThis database contains a variety of industry reports including risk reports, industry summaries, market research, market conditions and forecasts, supply chain information, and competition data. Items can be viewed online or downloaded for offline use.
- Pitchbook This link opens in a new window
NOTE: The information from this database may only be used for academic and noncommercial purposes. Your use of the database constitutes acceptance of this restriction. Individual accounts expire on May 7 and will need to be renewed every year.
PitchBook allows you to search private equity and investors, venture capital deals, and information on mergers and acquisitions. Using real time data, their emerging spaces feature discloses upcoming investor trends, and the market map feature allows you to map out existing or emerging markets. Only students, faculty, and staff at the University of Utah can create a personal account which expires annually. While on campus, use your uNID, for example, u0000000@utah.edu email address. Pitchbook will generate an email with a link to follow for confirmation. Best tips in using this database include logging in to the library’s VPN, clearing your cache regularly, and following the link from the library’s website. Note, PitchBook is not accessible on mobile devices like smart phones or tablets. - Mergent Archives This link opens in a new windowDating back to the mid 1800's, Mergent's Historical Annual Reports collections offers over 1,000,000 documents available in .PDF format for the United States, Canada and Europe. Access an extensive library of high-quality historical documents featuring rich textual details and in-depth analyses on thousands of global companies.
Private Companies
The databases below include details on private companies.
- Factiva This link opens in a new windowThis database provides access to licensed content from Dow Jones journalists, media outlets, trade and consumer publications and business Web sites. Factiva also contains in-depth company, executive and industry profiles, expert analysis, market data and other reports.
- PrivCo This link opens in a new windowNOTE: This database requires (free) user registration before use. Licensed for academic/research, non-commerical use only.
PrivCo is a source for business and financial data on non-publicly traded corporations, including family owned, private equity owned, venture backed, and international unlisted companies. - Nexis Uni This link opens in a new windowNexis Uni™ features more than 15,000 news, business and legal sources from LexisNexis with an intuitive interface that offers discovery across all content types.
- Markets and Markets This link opens in a new windowNOTE:Access limited to University of Utah students, faculty, and staff. MarketsandMarkets provides quantified B2B research on 30,000 high growth emerging opportunities/threats which will impact 70% to 80% of worldwide companies' revenues. Currently servicing 7500 customers worldwide including 80% of globalFortune 1000 companies as clients. Almost 75,000 top officers across eight industries worldwide approach MarketsandMarkets for their painpoints around revenues decisions. Our 850 fulltime analyst and SMEs at MarketsandMarkets are tracking global high growth markets following the "Growth Engagement Model - GEM". The GEM aims at proactive collaboration with the clients to identify new opportunities, identify most important customers, write "Attack, avoid and defend" strategies, identify sources of incremental revenues for both the company and its competitors. MarketsandMarkets now coming up with 1,500 MicroQuadrants (Positioning top players across leaders, emerging companies, innovators, strategic players) annually in high growth emerging segments. MarketsandMarkets™ is determined to benefit more than 10,000 companies this year for their revenue planning and help them take their innovations/disruptions early to the market by providing them research ahead of the curve. MarketsandMarkets's flagship competitive intelligence and market research platform, "Knowledgestore" connects over 200,000 markets and entire value chains for deeper understanding of the unmet insights along with market sizing and forecasts of niche markets.
- Pitchbook This link opens in a new window
NOTE: The information from this database may only be used for academic and noncommercial purposes. Your use of the database constitutes acceptance of this restriction. Individual accounts expire on May 7 and will need to be renewed every year.
PitchBook allows you to search private equity and investors, venture capital deals, and information on mergers and acquisitions. Using real time data, their emerging spaces feature discloses upcoming investor trends, and the market map feature allows you to map out existing or emerging markets. Only students, faculty, and staff at the University of Utah can create a personal account which expires annually. While on campus, use your uNID, for example, u0000000@utah.edu email address. Pitchbook will generate an email with a link to follow for confirmation. Best tips in using this database include logging in to the library’s VPN, clearing your cache regularly, and following the link from the library’s website. Note, PitchBook is not accessible on mobile devices like smart phones or tablets.
Financial Analysis
Financial Statements
Below is a film for our Films on Demand database titled, How to Read a Financial Statement: Business Finance Essentials. If you are asked to login, please use your U credentials.
Business Ratios
Financial ratios are powerful tools to help summarize financial statements and the health of a company or enterprise.
Use Mergent Key Business Ratios to identify relationships between financial data sets and monitor the state of businesses. Listed below are books available regarding business ratios with your library.
The Quick Reference Guide to Key Business Ratios by Call Number: HF5681.R25 Q52 2004ISBN: 0735541329Publication Date: 2004
Databases
Below are resources that hold details regarding company financials and valuation.
- PrivCo This link opens in a new windowNOTE: This database requires (free) user registration before use. Licensed for academic/research, non-commerical use only.
PrivCo is a source for business and financial data on non-publicly traded corporations, including family owned, private equity owned, venture backed, and international unlisted companies. - Mergent Online This link opens in a new windowThis database contains searchable data for more than 10,000 companies on the NYSE, AMEX and Nasdaq exchanges. All financials are provided as reported and include information on balance sheets, income statements, expenditures, assets, liabilities, cash flow, performance trends, and more.
- Value Line This link opens in a new windowThis database provides access to documents and financial information for a variety of companies.
- Pitchbook This link opens in a new window
NOTE: The information from this database may only be used for academic and noncommercial purposes. Your use of the database constitutes acceptance of this restriction. Individual accounts expire on May 7 and will need to be renewed every year.
PitchBook allows you to search private equity and investors, venture capital deals, and information on mergers and acquisitions. Using real time data, their emerging spaces feature discloses upcoming investor trends, and the market map feature allows you to map out existing or emerging markets. Only students, faculty, and staff at the University of Utah can create a personal account which expires annually. While on campus, use your uNID, for example, u0000000@utah.edu email address. Pitchbook will generate an email with a link to follow for confirmation. Best tips in using this database include logging in to the library’s VPN, clearing your cache regularly, and following the link from the library’s website. Note, PitchBook is not accessible on mobile devices like smart phones or tablets.
Ticker Symbols
Ticker Symbols
When beginning your company research, note the ticker symbol of the company if it is publicly-traded. This symbol can be used to search within the library's databases. You may want to look up a company's ticker symbol using Yahoo Finance.
Examples:
Ticker Company
WMT Wal-Mart
CMCSA Comcast Corporation
