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CWA Strategic Research Manual
Company Profiles & Finances
Generally speaking, companies fall into one of three categories: non-profit, publicly owned for-profit, or privately owned for-profit. If your company is for-profit, determine whether the company is publicly owned (traded on the stock market) or privately owned. There is much more information available on publicly held companies. You can look up the company at the Yahoo! Finance site [quote.yahoo.com/l]. If the company is public, Yahoo will tell you the ticker symbol under which the company is traded.
You can collect some quick, useful summary information at the following sites:
- Yahoo! Finance [quote.yahoo.com] – Public companies only. Click on the ticker symbol you’ve identified, then choose “Profile” for a quick overview and links for more in-depth information.
- Hoover’s Online [www.hoovers.com] - Public and private companies and industry profiles. Click on "Companies and Industries."
- MarketGuide [marketguide.com] – Public companies only. Information includes company snapshot, stock charts, number of employees, officers.
- CorpTech Database of 50,000 High-Tech Companies [www.corptech.com]- Profiles, competitor information, industry rankings, and other data on public and private high-tech organizations.
- CEO Express [www.ceoexpress.com] – A “meta” site which contains links to company research, government agencies, statistics, legislation, business news, and magazines on other sites.
Your local library will also have various directories that can provide overview information for both public and private companies.
Publicly owned companies are required to file regular reports with the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC). Major filings from 1996 to present are available at the SEC's website [www.sec.gov/edaux/searches.htm]. You will probably find it easiest to use the Quick Forms Lookup. Many companies also make their SEC filings available on the company web site, usu-ally in the Investor Relations section.
A more user-friendly source for SEC filings is 10-K Wizard [www.10Kwizard.com]. At the site, you can also create a free "SEC alert" to receive e-mail notifications when your company files new reports. (Free registration is required to use this feature.) Also check the company's web site; some offer a similar e-mail notification sys-tem for new filings, as well as for company press releases.
Note that both the parent corporation and some of its subsidiaries may be required to file with the SEC, depending on the corporate struc-ture. Check for both.
Of the SEC forms, Form 10-K is often the most useful one. It includes detailed information about:
- The history and structure of the com-pany and its subsidiaries.
- The company's products.
- Operations in other countries.
- Number of employees and unionization.
- Income and expenses (both summaries and detailed statements).
- Properties and plant locations.
- Pending lawsuits by or against the com-pany.
- Value of stock and number of share-holders.
You can also often obtain a 10-K by asking the company for a copy.
Similar to the 10-K is the glossy annual report the company sends to shareholders. The major financial information is identical to that reported in the 10-K, but the annual report contains other helpful descriptions of the company's business and plans. This is not avail-able from the SEC. You may be able to get a copy from the company's web site; otherwise, call the company's investor relations depart-ment. Note that information on number and unionization of employees is included in the 10-K but usually not in the annual report.
Other SEC filings can assist in your research:
Form 10-Q is a quarterly report on the company's finances but does not include the detailed background information contained in a 10-K.
Form 8-K describes important events or changes in the company which could affect its finances. An example would be the sale or pur-chase of a plant, announcement of a merger or joint venture, or a press release about an important change at the company. 8-K's can help us keep track of an employer, but remember that only events considered "significant" to the company's overall finances must be reported, so even something that's quite important to us, like the closing of an entire location, may not be reported. Also, the form can be filed up to 15 days after the change occurs.
Proxy statements (Form Def14A) must be filed in advance of the company's annual meeting and contain the following useful information:
- Date and location of annual meeting
- Names and backgrounds of the Board of Directors
- Salary, bonus, and stock options for the top 5 executives
- Major shareholders (those who own 5% or more of the stock)
Executive compensation information for some companies can also be obtained from the AFL-CIO's Executive Paywatch site [www.paywatch.org].
On Forms 3 and 4, companies must report sales or purchases of stock by company officials. The SEC Official Summary of Securities Transactions and Holdings reports information gained from those forms each month. It also lists stock ownership for officials who own more than ten percent of any class of the company's stock. This information is also available from many of the company research web sites listed above, usually under "Insider" or "Insider Trading."
For forms filed before 1996, you can contact the company's Investor Relations department or buy them from a private firm called Disclosure, Inc. (800-638-8241). Disclosure charges by the number of pages and will give you the price be-fore you place your order.
Dun and Bradstreet (D&B) background reports, which give reliable information about company finances and operation, are available by request from the CWA Research Library. You can also request a report that shows the entire corporate structure, including parent, subsidiaries, and company locations. D&B reports are particularly useful for privately owned firms which don't have to file SEC reports. You can also purchase a background report for $25 directly from the Dun & Bradstreet web site [www.dnb.com].
Corporations, including non-profits, must file certain records in the states in which they do business. In addition, in the state in which they're incorporated, they must file extensive incorporation information. (The state of incorpo-ration is not necessarily where the company's headquarters are located. Check the Form 10-K or other financial document to find out where the company is incorporated.)
The records usually include articles of incorporation, bylaws, facts about dissolutions or mergers, corporate officers, subsidiaries in the state, etc. Most often, information is filed with the Secretary of State's office; some records are available online. You may be able to contact the Secretary of State's office or access records through the state government's web site at www.loc.gov/rr/news/stategov/stategov.html or firstgov.gov/Agencies/State_and_Territories.shtml.
For non-profit firms, information on sales, assets, liabilities, net worth, expenses, and offi-cers and directors must be filed annually with the IRS on Form 990. Overviews of many non-profits and copies of their 990's can be obtained from GuideStar [www.guidestar.org]. You can also contact the office of a non-profit and re-quest to see or obtain a copy of the Form 990. By law, they must comply.
You can obtain more business information from printed directories. These directories, which are available in many public libraries and university business school libraries, include:
- Standard and Poor's Register of Corporations, Directors, and Executives, which gives information on many com-pany officials and tells whether they are on the boards of other companies.
- Dun & Bradstreet's D&B Million Dollar Directory, which contains information on large public and private companies in-cluding sales, number of employees, executives, and directors.
- Moody's Manuals, which contain valuable information on the finances and history of companies in public utilities and transportation.
- Who Owns Whom: Directory of Corporate Affiliations, which may show whether a company is part of a larger conglomerate or has subsidiaries you didn't know about.
- Editor & Publisher Annual International Yearbook, a comprehensive directory of daily, weekly, and chain newspapers.
- Television and Cable Fact Book, which gives information on broadcast and cable TV companies.
- Telecommunications Sourcebook, which gives information on suppliers, manufacturers, and contractors for various products.
- Long Distance Telephone Source Book, which gives information on operations of companies in that field.
| News and Business Publications |
Many public libraries have indexes to newspaper and magazine articles about particular companies. Many publications are also available on the web, some for free and some for a fee.
Indexes include Business Periodicals Index, F&S Index of Corporations and Industries, and the Wall Street Journal Index.
Relevant industry periodicals include:
Also try the local business press for your community and national business publications. Magazines like Forbes [www.forbes.com], Business Week [www.businessweek.com], and Fortune [www.fortune.com] can provide great background information on your target company or industry. All of these magazines have web sites that allow you to search the magazine's archives. Some charge a fee for the full text of an older article, but you should be able to find them for free at a public library.
A number of online databases can be used to identify articles about a particular company. If necessary, the headquarters staff can obtain full text articles on your target. You can also purchase a subscription to the online Factiva database [www.factiva.com] for $69 per year.
Industry associations can be an excellent source of information about the state of the industry, employers' legislative and policy agendas, em-ployment prospects, and more. Examples for CWA industries include the Newspaper Association of America [www.naa.org], National Association of Manufacturers [www.nam.org], Cellular Telephone & Internet Association [www.ctia.org], Air Transport Association [www.air-transport.org]. and the National Association of Broadcasters [www.nab.org].
Last, but definitely not least, don't forget the company itself. Company web sites often contain a wealth of information, including financial filings, product or service descriptions, employment listings, and press releases. On some sites, you can sign up to be sent new press releases and other information by e-mail. You can also call a company's investor relations department and ask for the annual report and other information for prospective investors.
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