Home - BUAD 341 - Managerial Finance - LibGuides at Millersville University of Pennsylvania

Learning about your Company

MU VIDEO Overview - 3:56 - How to be thinking about positioning your company analysis.

Researching a company and how well that company is performing has three basic components:

Information about the company itself (financial, operational, strategy, philosophy, etc.) ;
Information about the industry and the company's primary competitors (market size, market concentration, barriers to entry, etc.) ;
Information about the general economic or social conditions facing the company and/or industry (issues or conditions that all companies in the industry are experiencing).

From these three basic pieces, you should be able to compare / contrast your company against its primary competitors and standard industry performance metrics. This will allow you to derive an informed analysis about how well absolutely (example: is profitable / is losing money) or relatively (example: very low ROI compared to competitors or the industry norm) your company is doing. There is typically no "right" answer; but rather your analysis of the situation should inform your opinion or recommendations about the company.

Basic Company Information

MU Video Overview - 10:41 - Things to be on the lookout for with the basic overview resources

There are a few specific resources that will assist you in getting a basic overview of your company and some preliminary information about its competitors. This is typically not really in depth reporting, but does allow you to get your bearings about the company you are researching.

Ticker Symbol Lookup
Obtain the ticker symbol for publicly traded companies on the New York Stock Exchange ( NYSE ) or Nasdaq. Other exchanges located around the world are also included. Company research for publicly traded companies is easier if you know the ticker symbol.
MarketLine / Medtrack Company Profiles
Basic overview of thousands of companies. Includes major officers, short company history, major themes and competitors along with a SWOT analysis.
International Directory of Company Histories
Entries typically contain 3-10 pages of narrative, major events, sometimes chronological timeline of events, and a short bibliography for further reading.

Finding a Theme and Additional Company Information

MU VIDEO Instructions - 2:45 - Identifying a theme for your company analysis using Business Source Complete

Business Source Complete
Make use of the drop down menu in Business Source Complete to search by company ticker symbol. This will significantly improve your search results.
Newspaper Source
Local or regional newspapers can be more knowledgeable about a company with a large facility or footprint in a community. Local reporting may have a better "feel" for the state of local operations or labor relations than national sources.
EconLit ( with Full Text; inclusive of all AEA journals )
If your company or the industry in which it operates is subject to specific macro (anti-trust; industry litigation) or micro (network externalities) economic forces then EconLit would be a good resource to consult for additional information.
Wall Street Journal ( 1889 - Present )

Company Financial Information

MU Video Instructions - 12:12 - Using SEC's EDGAR (CLASSIC interface) to obtain financial data

EDGAR : US Securities and Exchange Commission ( SEC ) Filings
IMPORTANT : WHEN viewing results, use the CLASSIC version - upper right corner of the results. It is much easier to get ALL the financials from a filing vs. one a a time with the new version.

The SEC’s EDGAR database provides free public access to AS REPORTED corporate financial information. All public companies (except foreign companies and companies with less than $10 million in assets and 500 shareholders) are required to file registration statements, periodic reports, and other forms electronically through EDGAR.

MU Video Instructions - 4:22 - Using Yahoo! Finance to obtain historical share price data

Yahoo! Finance : Historical Stock Prices
Download historical share prices in spreadsheet ready format.

Industry Information

North American Industrial Classification System ( NAICS )
The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) is the standard used by Federal statistical agencies in classifying business establishments for the purpose of collecting, analyzing, and publishing statistical data related to the U.S. business economy.

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Business Environment

Survey of Current Business
Definitive resource for statistical information (International aspects, National, Regional, Industry) along with explanatory narrative about the current state of the US economy.
Current Economic Conditions ( aka, the Beige Book by the Federal Reserve )
Commonly known as the Beige Book, this report is published eight times per year. Each Federal Reserve Bank gathers anecdotal information on current economic conditions in its District through reports from Bank and Branch directors and interviews with key business contacts, economists, market experts, and other sources. The Beige Book summarizes this information by District and sector. An overall summary of the twelve district reports is also prepared for each report.
US Dept of Commerce : Bureau of Economic Analysis : Interactive Data
This service provide a common means for accessing national, international, regional or industry statistics; print, save or export data / reports; chart the data to make it visually appealing. An excellent resource for determining the general growth of various industries over the last several years.

Library Search ( nearly everything )

APA Citation Style and Grammar Guidelines

APA Style and Grammar Guidelines This link opens in a new window
This easy to use site provides guidance for formatting citations in APA format and is managed by the American Psychological Association.
Publication manual of the American Psychological Association : the official guide to APA style ( APA Manual ) This link opens in a new window
Washington, DC: American Psychological Association, 2020. 7th ed.
Written as a guide for contributors to A.P.A. journals, this is also useful to students who need to know recommended forms for presenting bibliographies, footnotes, tables, and figures.
Location: Reserve -- Permanent BF76.7 .P83x 2020 ( at Reserves behind circulation desk; 4 hour loan )
APA formatting and Style Guide : General Format ( OWL ) This link opens in a new window
APA formatting : Reference List for ELECTRONIC Sources ( OWL ) This link opens in a new window

Tutorial: APA Citations 7th Edition

Subject Librarian

Scott Anderson

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Office: Library,
Lower Level 102A ( LL102A )

717-871-7030

Subjects: Accounting, Business Administration, Computer Science, Economics, Entrepreneurship, Finance, Management, Marketing, Mathematics

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Access items for your course added by your instructor. Books and DVDs can be checked out at the library circulation desk in McNairy Library.
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