If you are an investor who wants to know more than just the ticker symbol of your stocks, and want to do more than just watch the price rise or fall on the stock exchange, you can dig in and find out a lot about the companies in which you have your money invested.

Stock Exchange Web Sites

A good place place to start might be the web sites of the major stock exchanges.  For example, on the New York Stock Exchange website you can find a Listed Company Directory.  There you can look at all companies listed on the exchange, both national and international.  If you pinch on the company name from the alphabetical listing you can find a profile, data, and news about the company.  And there is a link to the company’s website.  Likewise, on the NASDAQ website, you will find the listed companies, with a description of the company, as filed with the SEC, and a link to the company’s website.

Company Websites

Once you get into the company’s website, you can learn about what the company does, by looking under the About Us tab, for example.  Each company’s website is unique, but you can generally find information about its industry and market, its products and services, production facilities, organization, and news releases about the company.  There  may also be a special section for investor information and relations.  And you may be able to access the company’s annual reports and earnings releases.

What Do You as an Investor Want to Know?

Each individual investor will have his or her own interests and appetite for information regarding investments.  The following are offered only as suggestions in forming a general guideline of different aspects to consider in the information gathering process.

In researching and doing a diagnosis of a company, you may want to consider various different aspects, including:

• Basic information on the company and its organization
• Economic and financial data
• Marketing and commercial factors
• Industrial capacity and level of technology
• The human factor

The Company and its Organization

Information of interest may include when the company was founded, its legal structure, the company’s owners, its total capital, related companies, and any litigation in which the company may be involved.  General data on the company could also include its objectives, historical evolution, and organization chart.  News or press releases will provide up-to-date information on the company and its activities.

Economic and Financial Data

General information on the economic environment in which the company operates, and particularly its sector of the economy, can be found in business news from the different press sources and in reports and analysis done by market researchers, brokers, and investment advisors.  If you want to do some research on your own, you can find more in-depth financial information on the company in its annual reports and financial statements.

Some factors to look at include growth in annual sales as compared to the company’s industry sector, growth of profits, investments made, profits as a percentage of sales, profits as a return on investment, owners’equity, self-financing capacity, ratio of current assets to current liabilities, bank balances, inventory levels, level of indebtedness and interest costs, and debt to equity ratios.

Other data could include the company’s creditors, with references from their lender banks, and the company’s principal customers and suppliers, with data on collection and payment terms.  Commercial reports from the industry sector can provide valuable information.  And in a company with a significant investment in property, plant and equipment, information on the age and state of repair of its facilities can be useful, along with any information about the insurance coverage the company carries.  If you can find a budget or projection, you will be able to see what the company has planned for the future.

Marketing and Commercial Factors

Here you may want to look at the company’s range of products, its principal customers and the geographic areas the company serves, the company’s market share, its trade policies in terms of pricing, promotion of its products, advertising and publicity, seasonality of its sales, its principal competitors, and the prevailing conditions in the company’s particular market.

Industrial Capacity and Level of Technology

You may be interested in the company’s production process, the amount it spends on research and development, the patents it owns, its raw materials and their suppliers, the company’s quality standards and certifications, and its environmental protection policies, standards, and practices.

The Human Factor

The human factor is an important intangible, that include the company’s management and its employees.  The background and qualifications of senior management are relevant in evaluating a company’s prospects for the future, and any recent changes in management will be worth noting.  The general labor climate in the industry and in the company are significant aspects, as are the company’s policies regarding the training and incentives it provides to its employees, in addition to general working conditions and the overall job satisfaction of its workers.

Summary Note

Looking beyond the ticker symbol and learning about the company will connect you – it will give you a real feeling of ownership and lead you to a wealth of information about what your money is doing while it is out there working for you.