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By Root 478 0

cheaply because the companies don’t have a strict requirement to report to anyone but their limited shareholders. If they have anything to hide, like pending litigation or poor financials, you really have to dig. Here’s where to start:

• Dun & Bradstreet (www.dnb.com/us/ D&B) are masters of information, much of it a la carte or free.

• Thomas Register (www.thomasregister.com).

• Hoover’s (www.hoovers.com).

• D&B Million Dollar Database (www.dnbmdd.com/mddi) has information on approximately 1,600,000 U.S. and Canadian leading public and private businesses.

• Forbes 500 Largest Private Companies (www.forbes.com/businesstech/) is always one of my favorites, but it is only useful for the largest companies.

• BusinessWeek works well, too (www.businessweek.com).

• Thomas Register (www4.thomasregister.com) provides information on most manufacturers.

Publicly Held Companies

Public companies are easier to research, especially with the increased reporting requirements that have been dictated by Sarbanes-Oxley compliance. However, it still requires work. Here are your best sources of information:

• Dun & Bradstreet (www.dnb.com/us/); always start here.

• Edgar Online People (people.edgar-online.com/people) searches Securities and Exchange filings by a person’s name or displays all people associated with a specific company name. Very useful.

• Million Dollar Database (www.dnbmdd.com/mddi/) provides information on approximately 1,600,000 U.S. and Canadian leading public and private businesses.

• Lexis Nexis (www.lexisnexis.com) has legal, news, public records, and business information.

• Corporate Information (www.corporateinformation.com/home.asp) is a free site that requires registration.

• Financial Web (www.financialweb.com) lists stocks, SEC filings.

• Fortune 500 (500 largest U.S. companies).

• GrayMetalBox (www.graymetalbox.com) is the web site for Trade Scenarios Reports and Research Center.

• 123 Jump (www.financialweb.com); get SEC filings, company news, and links to home pages, current quotes and graphs, and so on.

• Wall Street Research Net (stocks.Internetnews.com) has the most comprehensive company news, EPS estimates, links to home pages, and so on.

Hardcore news sites you should monitor include:

• www.cnbc.com

• www.money.com

• finance.yahoo.com

• www.marketwatch.com

• www.foxbusiness.com

Next, visit those company web sites. If they are not available in this day and age, that will mean they are very, very small. The easiest way to research small businesses that don’t have a web presence is your local Chamber of Commerce or the archives of the local newspaper.

Competitive Intelligence

Here are the questions you should ask about each company you are interested in.

Company Growth

• Is the company in growth mode? Why or why not?

• What external factors affect its growth?

• Where is this company in the cycle? At the end or just the beginning?

• Who are its Tier I and Tier II competitors?

• Is there turnover in senior management? Has it been forced by the board or did people reach retirement age? Was a successor being groomed in the wings?

Financial

• What do the numbers say? How are the company’s balance sheet, income statement, earnings per share, dividend(s)? What do they indicate about the company’s health?

• What is the debt-to-equity ratio? Remember, cash is king.

• How is the stock price doing? Why is it moving?

• How is the stock doing against its competitors? Against the market as a whole?

• Are there other companies where you should be interviewing?

• What do the analysts think?

Strategy

• What were last year’s short-term and long-term strategies/ objectives? Were they met?

Market Share

• Are they dominant players? Why? How big is the market? What percentage of the market do they own? What is the next market?

• Does the company have any new products/services/patents?

• Is the company strong or weak domestically versus overseas? Where does the company make most of its profit?