Guides: MKTG Graziadio Marketing Classes Library Research Guide: Company Research

Company Profiles

Business Source Complete
This database contains Marketline company profiles which have SWOT Analyses. Please note: company profiles ARE NOT available for all companies.

Lexis Nexis
Please note Pepperdine subscribes to NexisUni, the academic version of LexisNexis.
Features news, business and legal sources from LexisNexis®—including U.S. Supreme Court decisions dating back to 1790. For help on how to use Nexis Uni, visit the research guide.

Example: I want to read the Hoover's report for the very well-known, but privately-held, Hallmark Greeting Card company

    Under the heading "What are you interested in?" click the box for "A Publication"
    Type "Hallmark Cards, Inc." into the box "Search Something Specific
    In Find publication, type "Hoovers Company Records - In-depth Records"
    Click Search
    Locate the Hoovers Company Report for "Hallmark Cards, Incorporated" Hoover's Company Records - In-depth Records

PrivCo This link opens in a new window
Source for business and financial research on private companies, including family-owned, private equity-owned, venture-backed and international unlisted companies.

Example: I need the financial data on Hallmark Greeting Cards.

Enter Hallmark Cards, Inc. in the search box after signing in to your account
Click Go
Select the record titled Hallmark Cards, Inc.

Company Financial Data

Mergent Online
Business and financial information for U.S. and international companies. SEC filings (real-time and archived to 1993) for NYSE, AMEX and NASDAQ exchange companies. Select private company reports available.

S & P NetAdvantage (Standard & Poor's NetAdvantage)
Access to research products including Industry Surveys, Stock Reports, Mutual Fund Reports, Bond Reports, Corporation Records, The Register of Corporations, Directors and Executives.

Example: I need a stock report on Cisco.

Type Cisco into the search box at the top of the screen and click search
On the left-hand side of the screen, go to the section for Research and click Equity Research
Click the PDF icon to access the report

Locating Competitors for Comparison

DemographicsNow (Gale Business)
Demographic data mapping tool for custom reports, plus directory data of U.S. businesses and consumers.
Mergent Online
Mergent is useful for locating companies in specific industries (by SIC or NAIC codes) and regions. The Company Analysis List feature enables users to generate a list of companies and obtain a peer average. Please be aware that Mergent only contains public companies. A video tutorial for using Mergent Online is displayed on the right column of this page.

Example: I want to locate competitors to the company Ford.

Hover over Companies/Markets at the top menu display
Select Company from the pull-down list
Type Ford into the company name/ticker symbol search box
On the resulting Company Snapshot page, find Peer Comparisons in the left sidebar menu

Additional Resources for Finding Company Information

Statista
Statista has a little bit of everything, including information on lots of companies. It will be hit or miss in terms of coverage, as Statista is not designed to be a company information database, but it is worth checking out in case you hit the jackpot. Statista often includes reports and statistics on large companies such as Nike, Target, and John Deere.