Research Guides: Entrepreneurship @CWRU: Company Analysis & Competitors

Get Online Help

KSL Ask A Librarian
Information on how to get help by email, phone, & chat.

Reminder: Online Access

Library resources require going through CWRU Single Sign-On.
The best method is to follow links from the library website.
When logged in and a browser window is not closed, access should continue from resource to resource.
Remember to close your browser when done.

CWRU Libraries Discovery & Authentication
by Anne Trenholme Last Updated Oct 1, 2024 15 views this year

Company Analysis – Financials & Competitors

There are several company resources that are very rich in company financials (5 yrs or since the start of the company), competitors, market & industry reports, venture capital, history, company officers, and more. Look on company pages for their blogs, as well.

• For a fast look at a company, use Intellect (by Mergent) Note: this database requires VPN off campus.

Search by name for best result, type slowly & then select headquarters as best option.Get a 5 yr look at financials,
Industry Details tab: get industry codes to use in another database. NAICS is best (North American Industry Code). A company can have several industry codes, note them all for use in the industry databases.
Financial Details has cash flow, historical pricing, and more (5yrs)
Company Brief shows heat maps for news, insider trading, industries, and more

• For a comprehensive view, use Mergent Online for public companies. Large private companies will be listed, but with minimal data since they don't have to report to shareholders.

• Search a company name, type slowly, then select the best auto-suggestion to populate the search field

• Mergent has 12 green tabs, and each green tab will have 3-10 text tabs underneath the green tab. See below.

Best options:

Company Details (history, business segments), Company Financials (numerous & detailed options), Annual Reports to investors, including filings, Corporate Social Responsibility, 10K, etc.), Competitors (sort/export, etc.), Supply Chain.

"Company Reports" -> Equity Reports is a 3-page document noting market activity by rank 1 to 5, plus top competitors with ranking noted on the report icon.

• For Company financials (5 yrs), Peer Comparison tool, Key Developments, and extensive News, use Factiva by DowJones. Select "Companies"/Markets" tab in the black banner, and slowly search a company name, using auto-suggest to auto-fill the search field.

Company page: a Snapshot with 3 columns: tools on left sidebar; Discovery Pane - news "around" [not about] a Company on right sidebar; center has a snapshot of market news, industry, key financials, business segments, brief news
Use left sidebar for best News options, Peer Comparison tool, and more
Best news option is from left sidebar " Latest News" & shows numerous "Suggested Categories"

IMPORTANT: Factiva license is for 4 simultaneous users. There is a time-out after 10 minutes of inactivity. LOG OFF when finished.

Intellect (Mergent) (Use VPN for off-campus access) This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
Hoover's text, D&B data, DUNS# for US public, and US, Canada, global private companies. Company Brief shows Market Drivers, Competitors, Media Trends, trusted news feeds. Get Product names, family tree & subsidiaries, download full or custom reports. Options on main menu for brief or detailed information.
Mergent Online This link opens in a new window
Deep financials with customized search & export report features for company data, economic research, and supply chain (Horizon tab). Create index, exchange lists, and data elements. Includes U.S. & global, active/inactive, public & private company & data, executive information, annual reports, filings, and industry & equity reports. Includes robust Report Builder and create list functions.
Factiva This link opens in a new window
Aggregates news content from newspapers, journals, magazines, television and radio transcripts and provides organizations with search, alerting, dissemination, and other information management capabilities. Major newspapers include the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and Washington Post. Please LOG-OFF Factiva when finished. Select a specific newspaper by clicking the NEWS PAGES tab on the left top menu bar. Or, use the search box at the top of any page. This searches all 17,000 Pro sources for the past 12 months. Try also searching within an industry or topic using the drop down menu within the search form. This will modify the sources searched to focus on those that may be most relevant to your selection.

No guest access to this database is allowed. Access is limited to current CWRU affiliates only.