LibGuides: Company Research Guide: Annual Reports, Filings & Financials

Public Companies: Start With the 10-K Annual Filing

Starting point: the company's 10-K annual report.

Public companies are required to file financial information with the SEC. Each year a public company will produce an annual report (also known as a 10-K) that is sent to its shareholders.* This report provides valuable information that goes beyond the balance sheet and income statements. Usually, the entire year is recapped and you will learn about the external and internal forces affecting the company.

Read the 10-K report closely, especially the following two sections:

Item 1: Business
Item 7: Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations ("MD&A")

You can you usually locate a company's 10-K on the "Investor" section of the company's web site. The following library databases also contain 10-Ks and other SEC filings:

*Please note that a foreign company (a "foreign private issuer") that trades in the United States files a Form 20-F annual report. A foreign company files a 20-F if 50% or less of its outstanding voting securities are held by U.S. investors; once a company crosses that threshold it must file the same SEC forms as a U.S. company.

Finding Annual Reports, SEC Filings, and Balance Sheets

Find detailed financial information and SEC filings in the following library databases:

D&B Hoovers
D&B Hoovers enables users to make custom lists and reports for US and international company research, sales prospecting, and more. Use the Search and Build a List tab to find personal contact information, news, wirefeeds, and company and industry information such as SEC filings, market research reports, analyst reports, and SWOT analyses. Use the Desktop tab to assemble and "pin" lists and reports for easy access. NOTE: Pinned items are only saved to the desktop for the length of your session; sessions are subject to timeouts.
Mergent Online
A database of 15,000 U.S. public companies (active and inactive) and 20,000 non-U.S. public companies (active and inactive). The D&B 20 Million Plus Private Company database is also included.

Search Tip: Use the [Government Filings] page to search for SEC filings
Search Tip: The [Company Details] page consists of ten sub-pages, detailing various aspects of the company. Information includes a business summary, company history, list of properties owned by the company, subsidiaries (including percentage owned and geographic location), business segments (the business and geographic revenue analyses for major segments of the company’s business operations), financials, long-term debt, capital stock and earnings estimates.
Search Tip: Use the [Investext] page to access investment research reports written by analysts at leading investment banks, brokerage houses, and consulting firms.
Search Tip: The [Report Builder] page allows you to create custom reports, including company-industry comparison reports.

Mergent Archives
Mergent Archives provides access to Mergent's Historical Annual Reports collection, which offers over 700,000 documents available in .PDF format for the United States, Canada and Europe dating back to the early 1900s, and the full collection of digitized Moody's Corporate and Municipal Manuals published since 1909.

Industrial Manual since 1920
OTC Unlisted Manual since 1986
Public Utility Manual since 1981
International Manual since 1970
OTC Industrial Manual since 1970
Bank & Finance Manual since 1928
Transportation Manual since 1909
Municipal Manuals since 1918

Nexis Uni

Search Tip: At the top of the Nexis Uni page, click on [Menu], then select [Company Dossier]. Search using the company's name or ticker symbol. Then, on the left side of company profile page, click on [SEC Filings].

Private Companies

Top pick for small private companies:

PrivCo
PrivCo provides private company financial data including M&A activity, investor information, private equity and venture capital data. It covers over 225,000 private companies, 11,000 investors, and over 80,000 private market M&A deals and funding rounds. Database strengths include the ability to search by niche industry for private companies, and to find specific investors for targeted industries.

Additional resources that may provide financial information for some private companies:

D&B Hoovers
D&B Hoovers enables users to make custom lists and reports for US and international company research, sales prospecting, and more. Use the Search and Build a List tab to find personal contact information, news, wirefeeds, and company and industry information such as SEC filings, market research reports, analyst reports, and SWOT analyses. Use the Desktop tab to assemble and "pin" lists and reports for easy access. NOTE: Pinned items are only saved to the desktop for the length of your session; sessions are subject to timeouts.
D&B Million Dollar Directory
D&B Million Dollar Directory, provided by Mergent, combines complete coverage on all businesses in the U.S. and Canada with $9 million+ sales or 180+ total employees, plus branches with 900+ employees. Business profiles on firms in over 200 countries worldwide are also included. Company information includes industry SIC code, number of employees at this location, annual sales, type of ownership, principal executives and biographies.
Hoover's Company Profiles
Hoover's Company Profiles features profiles of more than 40,000 companies, 600 industries, and 225,000 key executives.
Nexis Uni
Search Tip: Retrieve a Company Dossier. At the top of the Nexis Uni page, click on [Menu], then select [Company Dossier]. Search using the company's name or ticker symbol.
Mergent Online
Mergent Online provides a searchable interface for current content from the following Mergent Manuals: Bank & Finance, Industrial, International, Public Utility & Transportation, OTC Industrial and OTC Unlisted. Inactive (no longer traded) companies, on both US and international exchanges, are also included. The BondViewer contains a wide-range of bond data, involving both issuer and issue-level terms and conditions for U.S. taxable bonds, municipal bonds and retail notes. The D&B 20 Million Plus Private Company database is also included.
ReferenceUSA
ReferenceUSA (Data Axle) contains detailed company descriptions, corporate family trees, management directories, and competitor information for more than 20 million U.S. businesses. Users may build custom searches to help identify and compare companies. Custom search options include business type, geography, business size and ownership type.

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