Kresge Research Guides: ES 715 Entrepreneurial Business Basics: Company Research

Company information and financials

Performance ratios

Industry and company financial ratios help compare a company against other companies in an industry, or generally measure financial performance. Industry ratios are an aggregate measure of performance, often broken down by company size.

Business Ratios and Formulas: A Comprehensive guide (ebook)
An ideal tool for measuring corporate performance, this authoritative resource allows managers and auditors to pick and choose the tools they need to best assess their organization's performance. Each formula includes a complete description, explanation of the calculation, an example, and cautions regarding its use. The cautions are of particular use, since they describe those elements of a measurement that can be modified to deliver misleading results, different measurements that may work better in certain situations, usage on a trend line basis, and which other measurements should be used to reinforce indicated results.
16 Financial Ratios for Analyzing a Company’s Strengths and Weaknesses
From the The American Association of Individual Investors, a quick guide to company performance ratios
Financial Ratio Analysis

Company Directories

D&B Hoovers
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D&B Hoovers has public and private company profiles for US and global companies. Profiles include company descriptions and history, financials and ratios, hierarchy/corporate family tree data, SWOT analysis, news, competitors, SIC industry codes, NAICS industry codes, SEC filings, and annual reports. The “Build a List” function allows users to create a company list based on numerous parameters
and filters. Industry content includes constituents and analysis that include RMA Industry Norms, MarketLine Industry Profiles, and Fredonia Focus reports.
Technical notes: Company lists downloads are limited to 100 records. If you encounter a login screen, all seats are in use. Try connecting using the “UM users” link or at a later time.

Technical note:If you encounter a login screen, all seats are in use. Try connecting at a later time. Subscription includes 25 seats which are shared across all 3 UM campuses.
Mergent Intellect
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Private and public U.S and international company data, industry news, facts and figures, hierarchy/corporate family tree data, executive contact information, and industry profiles. Additionally, Mergent Intellect allows users to build lists of companies based on location, industry, size, etc.
Mergent Online
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Current and historical (past 15 years) firm descriptions, statistics, financial information and ratios, annual reports, mergers, acquisitions, disposals, joint ventures, long-term debt, bond ratings, capital stock, insider trading and supply chain for US and foreign companies. Mergent Online also provides access to Investext analyst reports.
Help guide

Technical notes: Company reports and financials can be exported to Excel.
Help guide
PitchBook
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Search thousands of Private Equity (PE) and Venture Capital (VC) deals by hundreds of criteria. Use PitchBook to establish benchmarks, find real time data on deals, identify and analyze comparables, and search investor details. The Research Center has market updates, FactBooks, PlayBooks and Emerging Technology Research reports that will keep you up to date on the private market.

Technical Notes: Available to current UM Ann Arbor students only. Downloads are limited to 10 per month. Students may not publish PitchBook's data to any public forum such as a publicly available website. Students may not use PitchBook data for any non-academic purpose. University may institute disciplinary actions against any students who intentionally misuse PitchBook's data. PitchBook must be accessed through links provided on the Library website. Authentication is Single Sign On via UMICH Web Login. Users may be asked to set a Pitchbook password at first login.
- Video Tutorials
Accounts expire at the end of Winter term
PrivCo
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PrivCo contains business and financial research for over 600,000 non-publicly traded corporations, including family-owned, private equity-owned, venture-backed and international unlisted companies. Search for Venture Capital (VC) fundings, private Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A) deals, Private Equity (PE) deals, and general company information. Private company profiles contain financials, corporate structure, key contacts, investors and industry information.
Technical notes: Personal account using @umich.edu email required.
PrivCo Video Tutorials