| |
EDGAR
is one of the most useful sites for business research on the Web.
It provides documents electronically filed with the SEC (Securities
& Exchange Commission). As of May 6, 1996, all public companies
are required to file in this manner. Use these documents to find salaries,
stockholdings, and business histories on top executives and directors.
The most useful docs are the 10K (roughly equivalent to the annual
report) and the DEF-14A (the proxy statement). The SEC's site, linked
above, has surprisingly poor search capabilities, and is not recommended
as a search tool. Instead, use one of the links below:
Market
Watch Insiders:
This one shows the companies with which the insider is affiliated,
the total number of shares and their total value. It also shows
a history of trades. Look for trades classified as gifts! When searching
by name, you can enter the person's name as "last, first".
SEC
Info: a good search engine for the Edgar database. Results tend
to be a little bewildering, but you can often find things here that
are not found via the other interfaces.
10K
Wizard.com: Fee-based service. Includes a very powerful word
search tool that searches full text of SEC documents. Looking for
alumni in startup companies? Try this: enter your college or university
name in the Word Search field. Then select Form S1 (equivalent to
a prospectus) in the Forms field. Click on the search button.
EDGAR-Online:
This service has the best indexing for searching for people in the
SEC data. You'll be charged for downloading documents, but
searching in the current proxies is free. A great way to find out
the companies with which a particular insider is affiliated. Once
you've found the companies, you can pay for the convenience of downloading
the file from EDGAR-Online or you can jump to a free site to get
the same information. Note that if your prospect's name is mentioned
in a document other than a proxy, this free search won't find it.
Directory
information on thousands of companies, public and private. Information
includes good company descriptions, a list of top execs, address &
phone, sales, number of employees, stock data and more, plus links
to other Web-based resources related to your search. Search options
include company name, person name, and IPO, among others.
Excellent in-depth profiles can be purchased on-line, but the free
resources are substantial. Not good for smaller private companies.
This is the site for IPO
Central.
This
business directory requires a free registration to see some information.
It does have top officer and sales information for some smaller
companies.
A
service of the marketing company, InfoUSA, but useful for identifying
businesses and executives. These include relatively small companies.
Search by business name or top executive name. Information returned
includes line of business, approximate sales (often questionable
figures given -- use at your own risk!), top executives, address,
phones and web site. There is a fee to use.
A
good source of public company information. Enter the ticker symbol
and go to the quote screen. From there you'll find links to a company
profile, financial statistics, a stock chart and a collection of
news about the company from Reuters, Business Wire, PR Newswire
and other reputable sources. Also good for historical
stock quotes, and real time quotes.
Another
in the crowded field of public company information sites. Microsoft
has an impressive collection of financial tools, including good
company profiles, stock quotes, and a portfolio tracker. Company
profiles are identical to Hoovers.
This
site has directory listing for large and small manufacturers. Minimal
information but good for finding or confirming an address or phone
number. Also can help to identify branches or corporate family members.
Free registration required.
Private Company Valuation
Determining the value
of a private company is not for the faint of heart. To do it right
requires detialed inside information about the company's financial
condition and specialized accounting knowledge. It also helps
to have an MBA or a CPA. Preferably both. However, a non-accountant
can use some tools to make a best guess based on comparision to
other companies.
Input
an annual sales number, select a business type and then drill down
to the industry you want. Your Profit & Loss statement will
show industry average breakdowns and your target dollar levels.
Go here for some useful ratios.
BV Market
Data has several tools (subscription required) that will assist
the lay person with a best guess at the value of a company.
CNNMoney.com offers this
calculator for company value based on EBITDA (earnings before interest,
taxes, depreciation, and amortization expenses). Don't use sales here!
However, you may be able to approximate EBITDA by running a BizStats
cash flow statement for your target's sales and industry, add Interest
and Taxes (amortization is not shown by BizStats) back into the Net
Income figure, and use the sum in the CNNMoney calculator to estimate
company value.
Looking
for a public company against which you can compare a private company?
The Stock Screener lets you select an industry and other parameters
(sales range is the only one you'll likely know), then search for
companies with similar characteristics. On the results display are
conveniently shown sales comparisons and useful ratios, notably
the sales/value ratio.
Inc Magazine
has provided several great tools here to help you estimate the value
of a business. There is a way cool interactive tool that locates
industries on a graph. Click on the part of the graph with your
company's industry and open a table showing median revenues and
sales, and several valuation multiples. Several other valuation
tools are on this page.
Business
Buyers and Sellers
If your
prospect has recently bought or sold a business, use one of these
sites to find a similar business for sale. From there you can make
an estimate of the value of your prospect's business.
Classified
ads for buying and selling businesses. Use this site to find sales
of businesses comparable to your prospect's business.
A free
business for sale listing exchange with thousands of businesses
for sale as well as comprehensive business information for entrepreneurs,
business buyers, business sellers, and business intermediaries.
Other
Home of
a number of useful lists,
including the 400 richest Americans, the top private companies, the
500 largest US corporations, the best companies to work for and much
more. Their quick search lets you sift through them all with a mouse
click.
This part
of Salary.com will summarize the
full compensation package for public company top officers.
This
is the Canadian version of EDGAR. You can find the same kind of executive
and director information in the SEDAR proxies as you can in the US
version -- and no funny codes. A proxy is just called a proxy. Imagine
that!
Companies
are constantly changing their names, merging into others and going
out of business. This site from the Lexis Nexis helps you find out
what happened. Changes from more than one year ago can be viewed.
Must have a subscription to view more recent ones.
|
