BA 497: Business Policy, Strategy, and Ethics (Jean-Denis)

Example: I need balance sheet, income statement and cash flow statement data for Bank of America.

• Type either Bank of America or the the ticker symbol (BAC) into the search box and select Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC)
• On the left-hand side, scroll to the Financials/Valuation section and select either income statement, balance sheet or cash flow statement
• Data can be downloaded into Excel

Example: I need ratio data for Bank of America.

• Type either Bank of America or the the ticker symbol (BAC) into the search box and select Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC)
• On the left-hand side, scroll to the Financials/Valuation section and select "Ratios"

Example: I need SEC Filings for Bank of America.

• Type either Bank of America or the the ticker symbol (BAC) into the search box and select Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC)
• Scroll down the left-hand side of the screen and click the link for SEC Filings
• Select the PDF of the latest 10-K (if the PDF takes too long to download, try Microsoft Word)
• Sections like "Risk Factors" or "Management's Discussion" will be especially helpful

Example: I need the bond rate for Bank of America

• Type Bank of America into the search box and select Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC)
• On the left-hand column, scroll down to Fixed Income and select Securities Summary
• Go to the line titled Current YTW to obtain the current yield

Example: I need income statement, balance sheet and cash flow data for Bank of America.

• Type in either Bank of America or the ticker symbol (BAC) into the box
• Click Go
• Click Company Financials
• Use the pull-down menu to select the type of financial data (Balance Sheet, Income Statement or Cash Flow)
• Use the pull-down menu to select the number of years of financial data (3, 5, 7, 10 or 15)
• Use the pull-down menu for As Reported Currency to change the currency from Euros to US Dollars
• Click Refresh
• Click the link for Ratios. The ratios will include the effective tax rate which is needed for calculating the cost of capital.
• Select the Years you need with the pull-down menu
• Click Refresh

Example: I need ratio data for Bank of America.

• Type in either Bank of America or the ticker symbol (BAC) into the box
• Click Go
• Click the tab for Company Financials
• Click the link for Ratios
• Click the arrow icon by the ratios to obtain information about the ratios were calculated

Example: I want to compare Bank of America with some of its peers.

• Type Bank of America or the ticker (BAC) into the search box and click Go
• Click the tab for Competitors
• Click the "X" for companies you want to remove
• Click  +To Company Analysis List at the top of the screen
• Search for any additional competitors like Goldman Sachs, Schwab (Charles) Corp, Piper Sandler Companies and CME Group Inc
• Click the link for "My Mergent Tools"
• Click the link for Company Comparison Report
• Select your companies by clicking >>
• Click the plus signs + for Financials and Ratios
• Click the types of financials and ratios that you need
• Click > to add the financials and ratios
• Click the box for Include Average
• Select the years you want
• Use the pull-down menu to select Microsoft Excel format
• Click Create Report

If you don't locate a company's bond rate in S&P Net Advantage, check the 10-K reports for "Senior Notes."

Example: I need articles on Bank of America and lawsuits.

• Click box for "News"
• Type Bank of America lawsuits into the box
• Use the pull down menu to select date range for more recent articles (e.g. 2021 to today's date)

Example: I want articles about layoffs at Bank of America

• Type Bank of America corp into the first box
• Type layoffs into the second box
• Click Search
• Go to Publication and set the date range from 2021-2024

Example: I need articles that describe how Bank of America is run.

• Type Bank of America corp into the first box 
• Type organizational or culture or employees or personnel management into the second box and click Search
• Click "Publication Date" on the left-hand side to filter results to more recent articles (e.g. 2021-2024)

Example: I need some articles on Bank of America's strategies.    

• Type Bank of America corp into the first box and select CO Company Entity with the pull-down menu 
• Type business planning or strateg* into the second box and select SU Subject with the pulldown menu and click Search    
• If you need to limit your search to newer articles, go to the publication date section on the left, enter the range you need and click Update\

Example: I need articles on Bank of America and its customers.

• Type Bank of America corp in the first box
• Type customers or consumers or clients into the second box and click search

Example: I want some articles on lawsuits involving Bank of America.

• Type litigation or lawsuits or regulations or fines into the first box
• Type Bank of America corp into the second box and click search

Example: I want articles on layoffs at investment banks

• Type layoffs into the first box
• Type investment banks into the second box and click search

Example: I need a SWOT analysis of Bank of America:

• Type Bank of America into the first box
• Type swot into the second box and click search

Types of information available from Refinitiv:

• In-depth research reports from companies like Morningstar, UBS, Morgan Stanley, J.P. Morgan, Trefis, RBC, Barclay's, etc. Avoid the reports from BuySellsSignal Research and Minkabu.
• Environmental Social Governance (ESG) indicators
• SWOT Analyses
• Supply Chain (referred to as a "Value Chain"
• Peer Analysis (available for diversity & inclusion, profitability, fundamental ratios, peer comparison (data like P/E ratios, beta)

Researching private companies is more challenging than publicly-traded companies since they are not required to report information to the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC). In most cases you will not be able to obtain financials statements such as income statements, balance sheets and cash flow statements for private companies.

One approach that students have used in the past when researching privately-held companies is to locate a similar public company and use their financials as an example or proxy.