User Guides Subject Guides > Business, Labor & Economics — Company Information

This is a guide to selected sources of information about companies available at the University Libraries. To find additional information, conduct a Subject or Word search in the HELIN Library Catalog for the name of the company you are researching. To find periodical articles about a company, search the Reference Databases listed under Business, Labor & Economics.

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Company directories | Company profiles & histories
Company financial statements | Company stocks & bonds
Historical stock prices

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URI Business Reference Table Latest year only.

CCE Ref. HG4057 .A219 Latest year only.

LexisNexis Corporate Affiliations. Annual. 8 vols.

Lists over 60,000 publicly-traded and private parent companies plus their subsidiaries. Covers U.S. and international companies. Information provided for each company includes address, phone, Web site, ticker symbol & stock exchange, basic financial data, business description, key personnel & members of the board, and a list of all subsidiaries. Indexes provided: company name, brand name, geographic, corporate responsibilities, S.I.C.

http://www.uri.edu/library/reference_databases/title.html

ReferenceUSA — Business (InfoUSA).

Online directory of approximately 14 million U.S. businesses, publicly-traded and private, large and small. The information in the database comes from Yellow Page and White Page telephone directories; annual reports; 10-K’s and other SEC filings; government data; industry publications and directories; and U.S. postal records. Information on each business is verified by telephone at least once a year. Search by company name or create lists of companies based on business type, size, and/or geographic location.

http://www.uri.edu/library/reference_databases/title.html

LexisNexis Academic.

The “Business” => “Company Profiles” search form provides access to a large number of U.S. and international business directories, including Standard & Poor’s Register of Corporations, Standard & Poor’s Corporate Descriptions, Thomson Bank Directory, Thomson Savings Directory, and Worldscope International Company Profiles.

URI Ref. T12 .T6 Latest year only.

http://www.thomasregister.com/

Thomas Register of American Manufacturers. Annual. 20 volumes.

Index to U.S. manufacturers. Companies are listed geographically under the specific products or services they offer in the “Products & Services” volumes. The “Company Profiles” volumes list companies alphabetically and provide addresses, zip codes, telephone & fax numbers, e-mail & Web addresses, branch offices, asset ratings, and company officials. The “Catalog File” reproduces selected company catalogs. Online version is free, but requires registration.

URI Business Reference Table Latest year only.

CCE Ref. HD9723 .E2 Latest year only.

http://www.thomasregional.com/

Regional Industrial Buying Guide. Eastern New England. Annual.

Lists industrial distributors, manufacturers and service companies by over 6,000 product and service categories. Provides company name, address, phone, and Web address, if available. Online version covers the entire U.S. and includes 550,000 companies and includes searchable catalogs featuring product specs, images, part numbers, and prices. Online version is free, but requires registration.

Company profiles & histories

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URI Business Reference Table  Latest year only.

Hoover’s Handbooks. Annual.

One- to two-page profiles provide an overview of each company; a company history; names of top executives; company address and Web site; brands, products, and services; a list of key competitors; and a number of years of financial data. Specific titles are:

Hoover’s Handbook of American Business. 2 vols.

Hoover’s Handbook of World Business.

Hoover’s Handbook of Emerging Companies.

Hoover’s Handbook of Private Companies.

Hoover’s Handbooks Index

Also available through Academic Universe (see below).

http://www.uri.edu/library/reference_databases/title.html

Mergent Online.

Provides a concise description of the company’s business — products and services provided, brands, etc. Covers over 10,000 publicly-traded U.S. companies and selected international companies. Online counterpart of Moody’s Manuals (see below).

http://www.uri.edu/library/reference_databases/title.html

LexisNexis Academic.

The “Business” => “Company Financial Information” search form provides access to a number of sources that include company profiles, such as Hoover’s Company and Industry Reports (see above), Nelson’s Public Company Profiles, Standard & Poor’s Corporate Descriptions, and Disclosure U.S. Company Profiles.

URI Business Reference Table

International Directory of Company Histories. 1988.

Contains 2-5 page historical profiles of the world’s largest and most influential companies. At the end of most profiles is a list of sources for further reading. The Directory consists of over 50 volumes, with 1-3 new volumes added each year.

URI Serial Stacks

Moody’s Manuals.

One of the most important sources for historical company information, Moody’s Manuals provide detailed profiles of selected publicly-traded U.S. and international companies. Each profile includes a concise description of the company’s business as well as a corporate history listing significant events such as mergers, acquisitions, stock splits, etc. Specific titles are:

Moody’s Manual of Investments. 1951-1953. Serial HG4961 .M7

Moody’s Industrial Manual. 1954-2001. Serial HG4961 .M67

Moody’s OTC Industrial Manual. 1970-2001. Serial HG4961 .M675

Moody’s Bank & Finance Manual. 1955-2001. Serial HG4961 .M65

Moody’s Transportation Manual. 1954-2001. Serial HG4971 .M74

Moody’s International Manual. 1981-2001. Serial HG4009 .M66

URI Z7164 .T87 N37 1987

Nasrallah, Wahib. United States Corporation Histories: A Bibliography, 1965-1985. 1987.

Arranged by company name. Lists company histories published from 1965-1985. Includes books, periodical articles, theses, dissertations, pamphlets, and company-produced histories.

URI Ref. Z7164 .T87 N37 1991

Nasrallah, Wahib. United States Corporation Histories: A Bibliography, 1965-1990. 2nd ed. 1991.

Arranged by company name. Lists company histories published from 1965-1990. Includes books, periodical articles, theses, dissertations, pamphlets, and company-produced histories.

URI Ref. HD4061 .R473 2002

Washington Researchers, Ltd. Researching Divisions, Subsidiaries and Products. 2002.

“When you need specific information about a firm’s divisions, subsidiaries, or products, even the best data about the parent company doesn’t do the trick. This book gives you the tools you need to penetrate the corporate structure and unearth the facts that are important to you.”

Company financial statements

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“Company financial statements” usually refer to publicly-traded companies’ “balance sheets,” “income statements,” and “cash flow statements.” In the United States, these statements are provided in a company’s Annual Report to Shareholders and in the 10-K and 10-Q filings required by the Security and Exchange Commission. Company financial statements are widely available. Many companies make their annual reports available through their Web sites. Library databases and Web sites also offer this information, often in an enhanced format.

http://www.uri.edu/library/reference_databases/title.html

Mergent Online.

Covers over 10,000 publicly-traded U.S. and international companies. Provides 10 years of annual and quarterly financial statements and downloadable annual reports. Archival information is provided for over 4,000 companies that were acquired, went bankrupt, or merged out of existence from 1995 onward. Allows the building of custom reports, converting currency, and downloading financial information to spreadsheet.

http://www.uri.edu/library/reference_databases/title.html

LexisNexis Academic.

The “Business” => “Company Financial Information” search form provides access to a number of sources of financial statements, including Disclosure U.S. Public Company Profiles, Standard & Poor’s Corporate Descriptions, ICC Full-Text Quoted Company Annual Reports / International Company Profiles, Worldscope International Company Profiles, and AICPA corporate annual reports from 1972-1995. The “Business” => “SEC Filings & Reports” search form provides access to Forms 10-K, 10-Q, 8-K, 20-F, Annual Reports to Shareholders, Proxy Statements, Prospectuses, Registration Statements, and Williams Act Filings filed by companies with the SEC.

http://www.sec.gov/edgar.shtml

EDGAR.

The Security and Exchange Commission’s freely-available database of corporate filings. Enhanced versions of the database are available at no cost from a number of other sites, such as:

freeEDGAR — http://www.freeedgar.com/

Annual Report Gallery — http://www.reportgallery.com/

10k Wizard — http://www.10kwizard.com/

URI Serial Stacks

Moody’s Manuals.

Summary financial statements are presented. Useful for historical data not available online. For specific titles, see above.

URI Ref HG4061 .R47 2002

Washington Researchers, Ltd. Researching Company Financial Information. 2002.

“Learn what numbers to look for, where to find them and then how to use them to get a clearer financial picture of a company. Learn how to use proxies when ‘real numbers’ can’t be found and how to decide what financial information you really need.”

http://www.uri.edu/library/reference_databases/title.html

Mergent Online.

For over 10,000 publicly-traded U.S. and international companies, offers details of companies’ capital stock, specifically classes of stock, shares authorized, shares outstanding, stock splits, voting rights, dividends paid, and annual price range. Information on long term debt includes bonds issued, percentages paid, due dates, Moody’s ratings, and price ranges. For historical information, see Moody’s Manuals, above.

URI Reserves HG4501 .V26  (1981- in Serial Stacks.)

CCE Ref. HG4501 .V26  Latest 10 years only.

http://www.valueline.com/ (Password required — see Reference Desk)

Value Line Investment Survey. Weekly.

Reports on approximately 1,700 companies in more than 90 industries. Each company report contains a description of what the company does, a discussion of the firm’s current position and outlook, approximately 15 years of financial data, Value Line’s Timeliness, Safety, and Technical ranks, financial and stock price forecasts for the coming 3 to 5 years, and a calculation of the stock’s Beta.

URI Business Reference Table  Latest 3 years only.

Standard & Poor’s Stock Reports. Monthly.

Contains two-page reports on over 3,000 companies traded on the New York Stock Exchange, the Nasdaq Stock Market, and the American Stock Exchange. Reports include 10 years of key income statement and balance sheet items; an analysis of the most recent earnings report; data on dividends, stock price ranges, capitalization, management, and significant recent developments; a full description of each company’s business; and rankings by S&P.

URI Business Reference Table  (1984- in Serial Stacks.)

Standard & Poor’s Corporation. Security Owner's Stock Guide. Monthly.

Presents, in compact form, financial data on more than 7,000 issues. For each stock, lists ticker symbol; stock exchange; S&P rating; institutional holdings; principle business; price range for the last two years and previous month; trading volume for the previous month; dividend yield; P/E ratio; earnings per share 5-year growth rate; rate of return for recent years; dividend payment information; assets & liabilities; long term debt; and earnings per share. Information also available for preferred stock, closed-end funds, mutual funds, and variable annuities/life investments.

http://www.uri.edu/library/reference_databases/title.html

LexisNexis Academic.

The “Business” => “Company Financial Information” search form provides access to selected analysis of company stocks, including Nelson’s Consensus Earnings Estimates, Nelson’s Research Report Headlines, Vickers Institutional Holdings, Vickers Securities Report, and Zacks Investment Research Consensus Earnings Projections.

Many Web sites offer links to real-time stock market quotes, company news, investment advice, and other related information. Researchers should take extra care to verify any investment information found on the Internet in another source. One example of such a Web site is InvestorGuide.com.

http://www.investorguide.com/

InvestorGuide.com.

Directory of investment-related Web sites. Includes sources of stock quotes and charts; company profiles and analyses; and news. Also offers educational materials on investment and personal finance and a glossary of investment terms.

To find historical stock prices for a company, consult older issues of a newspaper. Some Web sites also offer historical stock price information. Keep in mind that the company’s name may have changed over time and that the company may have been traded on a different stock market in the past. The resources listed below are helpful in the search for past stock prices.

URI Mform Area/Sect. 1 MFILM   1889-.

CCE Microform  1975-.

The Wall Street Journal.

URI Serial HG1 .C7 and URI Serial HG1 .C7 SUPP  1896-1976

URI Mform Area/Sect. 3 MFILM   1909-1940.

The Commercial and Financial Chronicle (Bank & Quotation Record section).

Weekly financial newspaper with stock quotes. Includes prices from the New York Stock Exchange, regional exchanges, and for specialized listings, such as banks, railroads, and “Industrial and Miscellaneous Stocks.”

URI Ref. HG4636 .J37 1989

CCE Ref. HG4636 .J37 1989

Jarrell, Howard R. Common Stock Newspaper Abbreviations and Trading Symbols. 1989.

URI Ref. HG4636 .J372 1991 Suppl. 1

Jarrell, Howard R. Common Stock Newspaper Abbreviations and Trading Symbols. Supplement. 1989.

URI Ref. HG4057 .A2864 1993

Jarrell, Howard R. Directory of Corporate Name Changes. 1993.

URI Serial Stacks

Moody’s Manuals.

Information about corporate events such as name changes, mergers and acquisitions, and stock splits. For specific titles, see above.

http://chart.yahoo.com/d

Yahoo! Finance Historical Prices.

Provides historical prices for stocks on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis. Information provided includes opening price, high, low, close, and trading volume. Years covered varies by company, with data available back to 1970. Data may be downloaded in spreadsheet format. Similar information is available at other sites such as http://www.bigcharts.com/.

For assistance
If you need further assistance, please stop by the Reference Desk.

A. Rathemacher 8/97; rev. 9/98, 6/99, 9/03, 5/04.