Research Guides: General Company Research: Overview

Conducting Company Research

Ticker Symbols: When beginning your company research is is useful to note the ticker symbol of the company if it is publicly-traded, as this symbol can help you locate company information in a variety of databases and other resources.

Recommended Resources

Mergent Intellect
Discover information on U.S and international companies, including executive bios and family trees. Also conduct advanced searches for industry profiles, residential data, and consumer demographics.
To access First Research industry reports, click on First Research below the main search box and then, the orange Submit button on the left side of the page.
View the Company Searching tutorial for more insights.
Business Source Complete
Access company reports using the Source Type filter at the top of the search results page. Also find relevant articles from major publications using the general search feature.
View the Company Research and Industry Research tutorials for more insights.
Mergent Online
Find public companies' data including industry reports for global regions, competitors, annual reports, equity pricing, insider trades, subsidiary ownership, financial data, and executive biographies.
Most data can be exported to Excel. Full company reports and tear sheets are printable in PDF format. View the Finding Financials tutorial for more insights.
IBISWorld
Search by company, industry keyword, or NAICS code to find industry overviews, market share, financial performance information, and company benchmarking reports.
View the Industry Research tutorial for more insights.
Factiva
Click on 'Companies/Markets' across the top of the screen and then click on 'Company' to search for company profiles, competitor lists, key information, and links to recent news articles.
View the Finding News and Company Searching tutorials for more insights.
FactSet
Use the search icon on the left to search by company name or ticker. Select company snapshot from the results. Features data and analytics on Company/Security Analysis, bonds, mutual funds, Industry Analysis, News and Quotes, and company screening.
Use the FactSet Excel add-in for additional data functionality, available from a limited number of dedicated computers in the Duda Family Business Library that don't require an individual account.
View the Finding Financials tutorial for more insights.
Capital IQ
Search by ticker or company name. Provides comprehensive coverage of companies: financials/valuation, company summary, transactions, business relationships, news, events, filings and investments.
Use the Capital IQ Excel add-in for additional data functionality, available from a limited number of dedicated computers in the Duda Family Business Library.
View the Company Investment Data in Capital IQ tutorial for more insights.

Need More Help?

Justin Harrison

Subjects: Business

Related Guides

Company & Industry Research Workshop

Company & Industry Research Workshop Slides

Learn more about Business Research Workshops.