Subject Guides: Competitive Information for Analyzing Organizations & Industries: Home

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This LibGuide will help you analyze competitive information for companies and industries needed for your research assignments. Links for databases, web sites and more are categorized described below. If you need assistance please use the 24/7 Chat service or contact me by accessing the links for those services on the left hand side of the page.

Organization/Company Information (Publically held)

D&B Hoovers This link opens in a new window
Global coverage of 130M public and private businesses. Includes Annual Revenues, Corporate Family Tree, Key Contacts, Analyst Reports, SWOT reports, stock data, and financials.
S&P Capital IQ This link opens in a new window
New users must register and set up an an account (do not use S&P site to register). Click here to Request an Account. S&P Capital IQ provides historical information on companies, markets, transactions, and people worldwide. It can be used for complex financial statement analysis, comparable analysis, sector analysis, and charting.

SEC Edgar Reports (e.g., "10-K" reports)
Government site with most current corporate report filings. One of the the fastest ways to search is by the stock exchange ticker symbol for the company. "MICROSOFT CORP," for example is "MSFT. Use Google to locate the ticker symbol for the company. 10-K Annual Reports provide risk factors, unresolved staff comments, properties, legal proceedings, markets, financial data, disclosures, controls and procedures, etc. Usually 30 to 100 pages; printable.
Yahoo Finance
A variety of financial and analytical information on publically traded companies. Discover ticker symbol for companies to research the data. Especially note HistoricalPperformance, Environment, Social, Governance and Product Involvement Areas.

Business Insights: Global This link opens in a new window
Delivers comprehensive international business intelligence. Includes Global Histories, SWOT Reports, Thomson Reuters Company Financials and Investment Reports, Market Share Reports, and Industry Research Essays.

Hint: Remember to investigate a company's website for information about careers, company news, privacy, investors, diversity and inclusion, accessibility, security, careers, and more. Sometimes you must be persistent. For instance, Microsoft Corp. provides links to the information above at the very bottom of the homepage for the company's website, on the far right, in tiny print!

Organization/Company Information (Privately held)

GuideStar Pro This link opens in a new window
GuideStar provides nonprofit information, connecting people and organizations with data on 2.4 million current and formerly IRS-recognized nonprofits.
PrivCo This link opens in a new window
PrivCo is the premier financial data platform on major privately-held companies. PrivCo provides accurate financial and business data and news and media content on over 500,000 major private companies globally (generally defined as having at least $10 million in annual revenue, or with substantial institutional capital funding).

Industry Information (in order of "recommended"

First Research This link opens in a new window
Comprehensive company, industry, and market information on 12 million companies and indepth coverage of top business enterprises.
D&B Hoovers This link opens in a new window
Global coverage of 130M public and private businesses. Includes Annual Revenues, Corporate Family Tree, Key Contacts, Analyst Reports, SWOT reports, stock data, and financials.
S&P Capital IQ This link opens in a new window
New users must register and set up an an account (do not use S&P site to register). Click here to Request an Account. S&P Capital IQ provides historical information on companies, markets, transactions, and people worldwide. It can be used for complex financial statement analysis, comparable analysis, sector analysis, and charting.
Value Line This link opens in a new window
On-line access to Value Line's leading publications covering stocks, mutual funds, options and convertible securities as well as special situation stocks.
Business Market Research Collection This link opens in a new window
This database contains company, industry, economic and geopolitical market research from sources including Hoover's Company Profiles, OxResearch from Oxford Analystica, and Snapshots.

Business Ratios

First Research This link opens in a new window
Under an industry's "Financial Ratios" section obtain ratios for all company data included in the report as well as "Large," "Medium," and "Small" company data ratios. The ratios are for the current reporting period.

NOTE: For a complete archive of prior years business ratios (back to 1979) see D & B's Key Business Ratios Archive database, above. Select Key business Rations on the left, then select a year and use the pull down menu to select a "book"; scroll down and select "key business ratios" as the "book". Leave Industry Group blank and search. Once in the "Book" use the index to select the SIC code range page for applicable ratios. Repeat by year.

For ten prior years of ratios, with a three year embargo from the most current years, see D & B's Key Business Ratios (above).

It is generally recommended to use First Research for the current period's ratios and the D & B Key Business Ratio Archives for prior years.
Dun and Bradstreet Key Business Ratios: Archive Collection This link opens in a new window
Archive of financial data for selected industries going back to 1979.
Dun and Bradstreet Key Business Ratios This link opens in a new window
Lists financial data for selected industries.

Competitive Information for Analyzing Organizations & Industries

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Organization/Company Information (Publically held)

Organization/Company Information (Privately held)

Industry Information (in order of "recommended"

Business Ratios