Ways prospective investors can find a companies balance sheets earning reports and shareholder information ?

Question

Were can prospective investors find a companies balance sheets, financial reports and share holder information to learn about the company ?

generally ? or otherwise? Some companies make it easier than others apparently ?

Answer 1

If a company is publicly traded, they are required to file tons of reports and do so quarterly.  You can always find these reports online at the Securities and Exchange Commission "Edgar" database (below).  

Also, many companies make these reports available in a much easier to read format on their individual websites.  You can usually go to the website for whatever company you're interested in and look for a link like "investor relations".  You can then find the annual reports by poking around that area.  Many times you can download them as a PDF and even order hardcopies by US Postal mail.  

The "annual report" or "10-K report" is the most important, and readable report.

Answer 2

I usually start at their website. Look for the ""investor" tab or link. This will have all of their annual reports and highlights. I like to start at their sight because I get a better feel for the company. Then, I usually move on to Yahoo Finance to see what the analysts are saying.

Answer 3

You can go to the MSN.Money  http://moneycentral.msn.com/home.asp  or Yahoo Finance

http://finance.yahoo.com/

These sites have good financial information about most listed companies.  Many of the over-the-counter stocks; financials  are more difficult to obtain.

You will be able to get some basic sharehold information from these same sites, but the law does not require that shareholder information be provided, you will get the insiders (those that own 5% or more and the institutions.

You can also go the the SEC's websites where you can obtain copies of reports the companies have filed with the commission

You can do all of this on you own, but both MSN Money and Yahoo Finance in their ratings of the companies have done most of your grunt work