Public or Private? For public companies (companies whose stock is available for sale to the public), a large amount of information may be found in books, annual reports, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings, and in newspaper and periodical articles. For private companies, much less information is available than for public companies. For private companies, there are no SEC reporting requirements; there may be no annual reports; there may be little or no information in books or in newspaper or journal articles.
Find out whether the company is: a subsidiary or joint venture? a franchise? foreign-owned? Check corporate structure, affiliation, and status
What does the company say?
Read a company's financial statements and annual reports.
What do others say?
Read news articles, investment reports and other secondary sources to fill in the gaps. Find out what articles have been published on various aspects of the company's operations. Consider current events including business rankings.
