6 Ratios to Look At and What They Mean
For those looking to compare one company to the industry they are in, some of the better sources available are the ratio analysis sources. If you want more information on that, Investopedia has a short tutorial on Ratio Analysis External which has basics and sources of information as well as a nice listing of some of the more common ratios External and a nice dictionary External of financial statement terms.
A guide by Investopedia explaining what ratio analysis is and how it can be used to evaluate the financial health of a company.
A guide by Investopedia that explains the definition of cash flow and how it pertains to company research.
Library of Congress - Doing Company Research
An excellent guide that provides a step-by-step process of conducting company research.
Library of Congress - Doing Historical Company Research
A comprehensive guide published by the Library of Congress that provides useful tips to finding historical company information.
University of Florida - Company Research Guide
A fantastic guide with step-by-step instructions on how to conduct and analyze company research. Several links will lead to UF's library databases but can also be found at CSU Libraries.
An excellent guide published by the Library of Congress on how to conduct research about business topics about businesses that might have ceased operations or historical information about business. It has several useful links that lead to resources and websites to help. Some links lead to their subscription databases. However, CSU Libraries subscribes to most of their suggested sources.
Written by Aswath Damodaran, a professor of finance at the Stern School of Business at New York University.
Check out Data (includes many datasets by sector).
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Public |
A company is considered public if its shares of equity are traded on a stock exchange. Public companies are required to submit filings to the SEC, making information much easier to locate. |
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Private |
A company is considered private if it is not traded on a stock exchange and is not owned by a larger parent company. They are not required to submit SEC filings, which can make finding financial information a bit trickier if it is available. |
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Subsidiary |
A company that operates under the control of a larger parent company is a subsidiary. The parent company may be a private or public company. The parent company may not disclose the financial performance of individual subsidiaries. You may need to read the management discussion in SEC filings such as 10-K, study the information provided on the subsidiary’s and parent company’s websites, or find news articles in order to find information about financial performance and strategy. |
Required Filings For Public Companies by the SEC
All companies, foreign and domestic, are required to file registration statements, periodic reports, and other forms electronically through EDGAR. Anyone can access and download this information for free. Here you'll find links to a complete list of filings available through EDGAR and instructions for searching the EDGAR database.
Find any publicly traded company and executive officers registered with the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC).
Be sure to check the company website itself. Often the company website is overlooked but can be a wealth of information about its history, financial information, products, and other valuable information. Looking at the company website is particularly useful if the company is a private company.
Banks in the US are predominantly public and highly regulated. We have included this directory like sources from the FDIC here because it is good for financial information on banks, as well as history, and acquisition information. This service allows you to locate FDIC-insured banking institutions and banking directories.
Includes information on the industry, country, ranking, and financial performance measures. Captured among the financials are revenue, net income, profit margin, revenue growth, total equity, and earnings per share.
Want to know who makes latex gloves? Check Thomas. AKA "the Green Book," a great source for information on industrial distributors and manufacturers and related services.
The Georgia Secretary of State is charged with enforcement of codes and statutes related to corporations, elections licensing, securities, and charities. They investigate fraud in these areas and refer cases for prosecution to the appropriate law enforcement agency.
Georgia Secretary of State: Brad Raffensperger
Contact:
214 State Capitol
Atlanta, Georgia 30334
404.656.2881
E-Mail
Georgia Corporate Search (records of Georgia Secretary of State)
Georgia Corporate Search lists all organizations or individuals licensed for business by the Georgia Secretary of State. Information provided for each license holder includes address, chief executive officer, secretary, and chief financial officer.
Georgia State Agencies, Councils, and Commissions
Georgia State Agencies, Councils, and Commissions provide links to web sites maintained by many state agencies.
Investing in Financial Research by
Finalist in the Business/Personal Finance category of the 2019 International Book Awards Every day, people around the world make financial decisions. They choose to invest in a stock, sell their holdings in a mutual fund or buy a condominium. These decisions are complex and financially tricky--even for financial professionals. But the literature available on financial research is dated and narrowly focused without any real practical application. Until now there's been a gap in the literature: a book that shows you how to conduct a step by step comprehensive financial investigation that ends in a decision. This book gives you that how.
Financial Valuation by
A practically-focused resource for business valuation professionals Financial Valuation: Applications and Models provides authoritative reference and practical guidance on the appropriate, defensible way to prepare and present business valuations. With contributions by 30 top experts in the field, this new fourth edition provides an essential resource for those seeking the most up-to-date guidance, with a strong emphasis on applications and models.
The Complete Direct Investing Handbook by
The practical guide to direct investing strategies and best practices The Complete Direct Investing Handbook provides comprehensive guidelines, principles and practical perspectives on this increasingly attractive private equity investment strategy. Interviews with leading family office investors, qualified private equity buyers, and top direct investing advisors provide essential insights, and attention to the nuanced processes of direct investing.
That Doesn't Work Anymore by
Economic measures and concepts like GDP, inflation, business cycles and supply chains that were created decades ago are being disrupted and altered by technology. These changes affect asset values, interest rates, stock valuations, barriers to entry, as well as regression and correlation analysis. That Doesn't Work Anymore discusses how to adapt traditional data to these changes and outlines ways to use newer and better tools that help you make good investment and business decisions.
Lessons in Corporate Finance by
An intuitive introduction to fundamental corporate finance concepts and methods Lessons in Corporate Finance, Second Edition offers a comprehensive introduction to the subject, using a unique interactive question and answer-based approach. Asking a series of increasingly difficult questions, this text provides both conceptual insight and specific numerical examples. Detailed case studies encourage class discussion and provide real-world context for financial concepts. The book provides a thorough coverage of corporate finance including ratio and pro forma analysis, capital structure theory, investment and financial policy decisions, and valuation and cash flows provides a solid foundational knowledge of essential topics.
Rays of Research on Real Estate Development by
Real estate development accounts for one of the major economic sectors in most countries, yet during the last two decades research on this important topic has been scattered. This textbook brings together some of the most important results on this subject. The book is written in a pedagogical way and covers crucial aspects of this industry such as growth management and real options, land use regulations, mixed housing developments, taxes, externalities, housing affordability problems, land prices and uncertainty, public infrastructures, and housing supply.
