| University Libraries
| Sources on a Company's financial performance: | Sources on Company issues (e.g. social, brand, or managerial problems): |
| SEC filings/annual reports | Company press releases, if an issue is public enough |
| Stock market data | The local, national, and/or international news, depending on the size of the issue and/or company |
| Library databases with financial summaries and reports | Consumer reports |
| Trade publications, in some cases | Social media, if a crisis or controversy originated on, or was commented by the company on, the internet |
| The news, particularly for product-level sales, forecasts, and more regular performance updates (versus annual or quarterly company SEC filings) | Legal documents or other government (e.g. IRS) documents, if applicable |
Search the databases listed below to find these sources:
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Factiva is one of our most popular business databases. It's primarily a news database, but it also contains valuable company information and data. Let's see how we can search Factiva to find company financials, news, competitors, and more!
Step 1: Start out at our Factiva database here: https://global-factiva-com.mutex.gmu.edu/. In the top blue menu, hover over "Companies/Markets," and select "Company."
Step 2: Type the name of your company into the Company Snapshot search box. If you know the stock market ticker/abbreviation, you can search for it. Otherwise, you can use the full company name to find the right match. Note that, in some cases, there are multiple companies with very similar names, so be sure to double check that you're selecting the right company.
On the Company Snapshot page for your company, you'll see a variety of information and data about the company, including financials, peer comparisons, news, and reports.
If you click on the "News" tab, you'll see news about the company sorted into different categories, e.g. performance, legal, press releases, etc.
On the peer comparison tab, you'll see other companies that work within the same industry or market, along with data related to sales, employees, and market capitalization.
Under the "Reports" tab, you'll see options to generate specific types of company reports. Some of these report options, such as the Marketline options, contain additional information not found in the company snapshot. Particularly relevant for this assignment is the Marketline SWOT Analysis report.