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Business: Company research

Public Companies

Public companies issue securities which are traded on the open market (stock exchange or over-the-counter market). These companies must meet stringent reporting requirements set out by securities regulators, including the public disclosure of financial statements and reports discussing the state of the company.

Information on public companies is considerable and includes everything from company profiles, history, financial statements, recent developments, and corporate social responsibility.

Annual Reports and Regulatory Filings

SEDAR+

Includes Canadian public company profiles, filings, and public disclosure documents. 

Edgar

Find annual reports for U.S. publicly-traded companies (from 1994+).

Mergent Online

Coverage includes company filings for over 10,000 publicly-traded companies worldwide. Enter the company name or ticker symbol in the search box > click ‘Go’ > once on the company profile page, select the ‘Reports’ tab.

Nexis Uni

Coverage includes US company filings. Select "company information" under "Guided Search" > Enter a company name > select "SEC filings" from the drop down menu> click "Search".

ProQuest Historical Annual Reports

Coverage includes 800+ US companies. Filings available from the 1800’s +.

Company Overviews

Mergent Online

Enter company name or ticker symbol in the search box then click ‘Go’.

Marketline Advantage

Enter company name in the search box > select ‘Companies’ from the drop-down menu.

Nexis Uni

Select “Company Info” under Guided Search > enter the company name > select "Company Profile" from the drop down menu> click "Search".

Factiva

Select the ‘Companies/Markets’ tab at the top of the screen and then select ‘Company’.

Passport

Includes data, analysis and dashboards for companies. Click on Go in the Companies section on the right side of the home page> enter the company name.

ProQuest One Business

Enter company name into the search box in the top field, then select "Company Profile" under "Document type", and click "Search". Alternatively, click "Company Reports" under "Featured Reports" on the left panel and then enter company name in the top field before clicking "Search".

SWOT Analyses

Marketline Advantage

Enter company name in the search box > select ‘Companies’ from the drop-down menu > click ‘Search’ > Company SWOT analyses can be found within the company profile reports (see the right-hand column of the report).

Passport

SWOT analyses for selected international companies are available in the Global Company Profile reports. Click Go in the Companies section on the right side of the home page > enter the company name into the search box > click “Search” > select the company’s “Global Company Profile” report if available > once in the report see the “SWOT” section of the report (under “Strategic Evaluation”). Note: SWOT analysis may not be available for each company.

Market Share Information

Market Share Reporter

Provides some information on the market share for Canadian companies, products and/or services but the main focus is U.S. and International. Search by company, product, industry keyword, or industry classification codes.

IBISWorld

IBISWorld industry reports provide market share for companies and products and/or services within Canada, USA, and China. Market share information can be found under the sections ‘Major Companies’, ‘Competitive Landscape’, and ‘Products & Markets’.

Passport

Developed by Euromonitor International, Passport provides data on market share, brand shares, and retail shares of companies and products globally or by country/region. Market share data is generally included in the ‘Market Data’ section of industry reports or in the ‘Competitive Positioning’ section of the global company profiles.

Article Databases

Market Share information can also be found in trade articles. Conduct a search for market share information in the following article databases by using keywords, such as the company’s name with the phrase “market share” or “brand share”.

Business Source Complete

ProQuest One Business

Company Financials

Eikon and Datastream

Eikon provides access to real time market data, news, fundamental data, analytics, trading and messaging tools. Datastream provides data on worldwide equities, market indices, economic indicators, fixed income securities and associated indices, commodities and derivatives. Eikon and Datastream can be accessed remotely. We have a limited number of logins. Please check User ID availability, contact libbusiness@wlu.ca to book a time, get login credentials and instructions for using these resources.

WRDS: Wharton Research Data Services

WRDS includes databases such as: COMPUSTAT, CRSP, Dow Jones Averages, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), Penn World Tables, Philadelphia Stock Exchange (PHLX), Thomson-Reuters Institutional Holdings (13F), TRACE, and more. It is intended for in-depth financial and accounting research. Registration is required for access. 

Mergent Online

Contains ratio analysis and up to 15 years of financial statements for public companies worldwide. Data can be downloaded into Excel. Enter company name or ticker symbol in the search box, then click "Go" > select the Company Financials Tab.

SEDAR+

Includes Canadian public company financials. 

PitchBook

This resource is a private equity and venture capital database covering a wide range of firms as well as startups. Search thousands of private equity and venture capital deals by hundreds of criteria. Users need to create a personal user account on Pitchbook with their Laurier email address following instructions under Access Requirement. These accounts are deleted every year on June 30th and need to be recreated. Within Pitchbook, "Help Center" at the top right corner provides tutorials on how to run basic and advanced searches.

Factiva

Coverage includes a few years of financial statements, financial ratios, stock price activity, share ownership, and more. Select the Companies/Markets tab at the top of the screen and then select ‘Company’. Enter company name in the search box under Get Company Snapshot, select the right company if more than one company are displayed. Click on "Financial Results" from the left column on Company Snapshot page.

Marketline: Advantage

Enter company name in the search box > select "Company Profiles" from the drop-down menu. On the company listing page, select the company match and you will be directed to the company profile page. Click on "Financials" on the left-side panel.

Nexis Uni

Contains ratio analysis and three years of financial statements for public companies worldwide. Select "Business" under "Discover topics" > click on "Find a company" under "Company Dossier" (top left) > Enter a company name > select ‘Financial Overview’ from the left column.

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Analyst Reports

Investext (via Mergent Online)

A full-text database of investment research reports. It contains detailed data and analysis on publicly traded companies in a wide variety of industries. The information is contained in reports generated by analysts at research organizations worldwide. Information provided may include trends, sales and earnings forecasts, market share projections, and research and development expenditures. On Mergent click Investext tab, select criteria and click ">> submit" button to execute search.

Nexis Uni

Select “Company Info” under Guided Search > enter the company name > select "Analyst Reports" from the drop down menu> click "Search".

Private Companies

Private companies do not issue shares that are publicly traded and are thus not mandated by securities regulators to report their financials and company information publicly. Therefore, information on private companies is limited. You may find a profile, contact information, names of senior executives, brief business description, date of incorporation, and sometimes broad annual sales/revenue estimates that are self-reported.

*When researching a private company, a great place to start is their website.

The following online resources may provide information on private companies:

PitchBook

This resource is a private equity and venture capital database covering a wide range of firms as well as startups. Search thousands of private equity and venture capital deals by hundreds of criteria. Users need to create a personal user account on Pitchbook with their Laurier email address following instructions under Access Requirement. These accounts are deleted every year on June 30th and need to be recreated. Within Pitchbook, "Help Center" at the top right corner provides tutorials on how to run basic and advanced searches.

Nexis Uni

Select "company information" under "Guided Search" > Enter a company name

ProQuest One Business

Enter company name into the search box in the top field, then select "Company Profile" under "Document type", and click "Search". Alternatively, click "Company Reports" under "Featured Reports" on the left panel and then enter company name in the top field before clicking "Search".

Scott’s Canadian Directories

Online directory of contact information and profiles for Canadian manufacturers, wholesalers, distributors, and business services. Select ‘Account Login’ > build a search with different variables including geographic, demographic, products, and other indicators.

Directories of Canadian Companies

Use directories of Canadian companies to find suppliers, research competitors, check a company's federal corporation status and more. Search or browse the directories. Consult with various directories by sector.

Article Databases

Conduct a search for news, trade, or scholarly articles on the company in an article database. See the ‘Article Databases’ section of this guide.

Company Rankings

Canada only:

Report on Business, Top 1000 (Globe & Mail)

  • Located in the WLU Reference Shelves – 2nd Floor, call number HG4090 .R45
  • Ranks the 1000 largest publicly-traded companies in Canada; measured by assets and ranked according to their after-tax profits in their most recent fiscal year.

Financial Post Magazine, FP500: Canada’s largest corporations

  • Located in the WLU Reference Shelves – 2nd Floor, call number HG4090.A1 F5
  • Ranks Canada’s 500 largest corporations by revenue, assets, and profitability.

PROFITguide.com, Profit 500

  • Ranks the fastest growing companies in Canada, by five-year revenue growth.

U.S. and International:

Fortune, Fortune 500

  • U.S. companies are ranked by total revenues for their respective fiscal years.
  • Also available in print: WLU Reference Shelves - 2nd Floor, call number HG4057 .A258

Forbes, Forbes Global 2000

  • Annual ranking of the world’s largest public companies, based on a composite score from equally-weighted measures of revenue, profits, assets, and market value.

Fortune, Global 500

  • Annual ranking of the largest corporations in the world, by total revenues.

Inc., Inc. 5000

  • Ranks the top 5000 fastest-growing private companies in the U.S.

Article Databases

Articles (news, trade, or scholarly) are a great resource when conducting business research such as learning more about a company (public or private) or industry. Further, article databases bring not only online articles together, but other resources such as company profiles, SWOT analyses, industry reports, and other research reports into one search engine.

Use keywords in the following article databases to find relevant articles and other resources. For example, if you are searching for information on the strategic objectives of a particular company, search for the company’s name with keywords/phrases such as ‘strategy’ or ‘strategic direction’ or ‘strategic objective’.

Business Source Complete

ProQuest One Business

Factiva

Canadian Business & Current Affairs Database

Scholars Portal Journals

Emerald Insight

Canadian Periodicals Index Quarterly (CPI.Q)

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