Publicly Held Company Rankings Education and Training

Use the Internet to educate yourself on publicly held companies
By Felicia R. Blue You work for an investment firm and your manager wants you to put a list of the top 50 public companies together. You can go to the library and spend hours there, but you don’t have the time.

There are other and quicker ways of getting publicly held company rankings education and training. You have a powerful tool at your fingertips, and that is the Internet. To obtain publicly held company rankings education and training, do the following:

1. Learn how to search IPOs on future publicly held companies.

2. Become familiar with white papers or reports to find out about publicly held businesses.

3. Learn how to scour SEC filings on public companies.

Train yourself to discover future publicly held companies through IPOs

Learn which companies are about to become publicly held corporations. The technique is to learn about IPOs (initial public offerings). IPOs are when corporations issue common stocks or shares to the public for the first time. There are websites where you can find out about IPO filings and pricings.
Try:  Hoovers provides in-depth information on not only publicly held company rankings, but on IPO filings. You can view the IPO calendar to find out when the public companies will start trading. IPO Monitor also shows IPO filings and pricings.

Educate yourself on publicly held businesses through white papers or reports

White papers can also be great resources to find the top public companies. White papers and reports show you not only the ranking of the publicly held company, but you can learn to look in the SEC filings to get the information that you need. In addition, you can learn about what the company's outlook is for the short-term as well as long-term. Reports can also reveal what Wall Street analysts are saying about the publicly held corporation.
Try:  HighBeam Research has good information on the top publicly held companies. If you want to limit your search by geography, HighBeam Research has the top public companies in Chicago or New York. CFO Publishing is another website you can visit to look at its white paper.

Learn about public companies through SEC filings

Looking at SEC filings is a great way to find out public companies. SEC filings are financial statements that publicly held businesses must submit to the U.S. Securities Exchange and Commission. Public companies must file these statements on a regular basis. Investors use SEC filings to help assess their investment decisions.
Try:  U.S. Securities Exchange and Commission is the first place you should check. You can learn about the most current SEC filings that publicly held companies submitted. Yahoo! Finance is also another place you can visit to see if a publicly held corporation has submitted an SEC filing.

• Consider creating your own database of public held companies that you want to keep track of. Store information - such as contact, sector, and other information - that is important to you.