Business & Economics Subject Guide: Company Research

The amount of information available varies by type of company:

• Publicly-traded companies - easiest to research, as they are legally required to provide detailed information on a quarterly/annual basis.
• Subsidiaries of public companies -  more difficult to research because the parent company may not report on each of them individually.
• Private companies - most difficult to research as they are not required to release any information.

Also, more information may be available for U.S. based companies than for non-U.S. companies.

When searching for companies:

• Use the company's official name -  the name you know the company by might not be it's official name.
• Search levels of the corporate tree, as appropriate - names of parent company, headquarters, subsidiaries, branches.

A ticker symbol, an abbreviated form of a company's stock name, can be used in some databases to search for information about public companies.

Example: Search for Amazon using the ticker symbol AMZN

Find ticker symbols through major stock exchanges, including:

United States:

International:

Company websites often provide:

• financial information
• quarterly and annual reports
• stockholder meeting notices
• contact information
• and more.

Look on a company's website for sections such as:

• Investor Relations
• About
• Annual Reports