The • symbol represents a site we find particularly useful.

The Company’s own web-site “http://www.(company name, or abbrev, or acronym).com”
Some contain a surprising amount of critical information useful for activists.  You can find company web pages by doing a title search in various search engines using the company’s name or Yahoo! Finance, CBS MarketWatch and Hoover’s often provide links to company websites.

AnnualReports.com (http://www.annualreports.com)
This free service allows users to review an annual report in an easy and convenient manner. Boasting the most complete and up-to-date listings of annual reports on the Internet, AnnualReports.com provides instant access to annual reports in their actual format in one single location. For educated investors, corporate annual reports are the most important research tool available. Annual Reports enable investors to stay up to date on a company’s yearly outlook. To access the annual report gallery, use the “Search & Browse Reports” box located in the bottom right corner. Perform searches by Exchange, Industry, Sector, or Alphabet.

• The Business Journal (http://www.bizjournals.com)
The Business Journal’s website features local business & industry news from 41 different markets around the nation along with a full menu of tools to help business owners and operators manage their businesses more successfully. Bizjournals is the online media division of American City Business Journals, the nation’s largest publisher of metropolitan business newspapers. It operates the Web sites for each of the company’s 40 print business journals and operates a web-only site with local business news and information for Los Angeles.

• Corporate Information (http://www.corporateinformation.com)
This is a very good site for information on public foreign companies and transnational corporations.  No registration required for basic access.  Allows you to search for data by company name or ticker, by country and industry, or by country or state only.  Provides links to lots of free corporate data (including information on foreign subsidiaries) and has lots of useful industry information.

• Executive PayWatch (http://archive.aflcio.org/corporatewatch/paywatch/)
Compare workers’ wages with the salary packages of CEOs of Fortune 500 companies! In Executive PayWatch, you can find CEO compensation data for some of the country’s largest companies; learn how you can have your “Say-on-Pay”; and find out what you can do to ensure re-regulation of the financial system.  A new addition to the site are case studies on executive compensation practices as observed in several large companies.  The site also contains easy to use guides on how to research executive pay for (public) companies not in the site’s database.  The site is updated every year.

GuideStar (http://www.guidestar.org)
A clearinghouse of information on nonprofit organizations.  Access detailed financial information for more than 850,000 nonprofit organizations nationwide.  Most information is free.

• Hoover’s Corporate Information (http://www.hoovers.com)
A Database containing news articles, financial information and company overviews. You can get direct access to SEC filings and company press releases.  To access the company information click on “Companies and Industries”.  You’ll have to pay for access to expanded information.  This site is best for brief overviews of public companies.

PR Newswire (http://www.prnewswire.com)
Get access to news stories about and press releases from public and private companies. PR Newswire combines multimedia content production, targeting, multi-channel distribution and measurement in market segment solution sets.  Use the search browser to find “Products & Services” and “News Releases.”  This site is great for background information on public companies and very useful in private company research!

U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission (http://www.sec.gov)
The Securities and Exchange Commission provides on-line copies of government filings made by publicly traded companies.  Beginning in 1997, the SEC has required all public companies to file electronically.  Selective filings are available back to 1994. To access current and archived SEC filings, click on “Search for Company Filings” under “Filings & Forms (Edgar)”.

Descriptions of SEC Forms (http://www.sec.gov/info/edgar/forms/edgform.pdf)
This page on the SEC site defines the documents that companies are required to submit.  Below are definitions of some forms we find useful:
Proxy Statements (or 14A’s): Issued when official notification is given by a company to designated classes of shareholders of matters to be brought to a vote at a shareholders meeting.  Proxy votes may be solicited for changing the company’s officers. Contains executive compensation data.
Form 8-K: This is the “current report” that is used to report the occurrence of any material events or corporate changes which are of importance to investors or security holders and previously have not been reported by the registrant.  It provides more current information on certain specified events than would Forms 10-Q or 10-K.
10Q Statements: Provides quarterly financial statements, management discussion, legal proceedings, changes in securities, defaults upon senior securities, submission of matters to a vote of security holders, exhibits and reports on Form 8-K (major events).
10K Statements: Provides fiscal year financial statements, most of what appears in 10Q, but, for year end.  Contains description of business, properties, directors and executive officers, security ownership of certain beneficial owners of management.

See also Labor – Money & Politics – Environment – Corporate Responsibility

Updated March 2012.  Please send website corrections to datacenter[at]datacenter.org