Business Research: Finding Company Information

This guide will highlight resources available to APUS students, faculty, and staff.

Use the tabs to the left to navigate throughout the guide.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

"A ticker symbol is an arrangement of characters (usually letters) representing a particular security listed on an exchange or otherwise traded publicly. When a company issues securities to the public marketplace, it selects an available ticker symbol for its securities which investors use to place trade orders. Every listed security has a unique ticker symbol, facilitating the vast array of trade orders that flow through the financial markets every day."
Source: Investopedia

• Use the web to find ticker symbols.  example:  Yahoo Finance

Finding company information will vary too depending on the type of company. Public, Private, International, Non-Profit, or Subsidiary.  More on overview of business types

• What do you already know?
• What do you need to know?
• Do you need to identify and analyze companies?
• Do you need to understand an industry?
• Do you need background on a product or service? 
• What specific language and/or phrases are unique to the industry?

Think about "who cares" enough to compile, analyze and publish data on a particular business topic. Library databases contain peer-reviewed content, analyst reports, and other vetted information.

• Government agencies at the Federal, State, and Local levels
• Trade associations
• Consulting firms
• Locally based media

From:  Corporate Research Project: Dirt Diggers Digest Guide to Strategic Corporate Research