How to analyze companies and industries: Sites and Sources


Standard and Poor's NetAdvantage

If you go to Industry Surveys or Industry by Company, you can choose an industry either from a list or by choosing a company that is in that industry.  This gives you several pieces of information on that industry that can be very useful.

Here is the list that you will find if you look under the Financial Services-Diversified industry:

CURRENT ENVIRONMENT
INDUSTRY PROFILE
 Industry Trends
 How the Industry Operates
 Key Industry Ratios and Statistics
 How to Analyze a Financial Services Company
GLOSSARY
INDUSTRY REFERENCES

COMPARATIVE COMPANY ANALYSIS
 Definitions   Revenues   Profit Ratios
  Equity Ratios   Per-Share Data

Similar information is available on pretty much all industries.

S&P NetAdvantage also provides information on each company, in the form of a Stock Report.  This includes analysts' estimates as well.

You can find information on who a company's competitors are, by going to NetAdvantage and clicking on Industry Outlook.  

 

Business and Company Resource Center

Once you have selected a company, tabs appear at the top of the screen. The Financial tab will give balance sheet figures for 4 years. The Investment Reports tab give a list of brokerage reports which look fairly recent. You might want to explore some of the other tabs as well.

This looks like a useful site.  Although the Investment Reports section does not provide much beyond quantitative data, the News and Magazines tab provides articles and news items related to a given company.  The articles, in particular, are interesting, because they provide more in-depth information.  The Company Profile gives SIC/NAICS codes. 

 

Zack's on http://library.pace.edu

A lot company specific information, including details of analyst recommendations.