Skip to Main Content

Entrepreneurship

This guide supports UCI’s innovation and entrepreneurship community by connecting users to relevant resources used to conduct research.

Email this link:

Company Strategy and Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A)

  • Search for a company  >  [left menu] News, Events, & Filings (scroll down)  >  SEC Filings
  • Company profiles can provide useful information about funding activity, growth rates, investors, etc.​
  • Search first only by company name, and add more search terms as needed. 
  • For ambiguous names (e.g., Apple) use: Select a Field (dropdown)  >  CO Company Entity.
  • Media: Network TV, Cable TV, Syndication, Spot TV, Magazines, Sunday Magazines, Nat'l Newspapers, Newspapers, Network Radio, Nat'l Spot Radio, Outdoor, and Internet Display (note that Internet Display does not offer data on a company's advertising through social media platforms).

You can also make educated guesses about a company's strategy by analyzing:

  • the type(s) & location(s) of its job postings
  • its press releases
  • patents it filed
  • companies it merges or partners with

Because of Regulation Fair Disclosure, during quarterly conference calls, public companies often disclose their past quarter's performance, and they usually discuss their future outlook/initiatives. These calls are transcribed, and are known as Earnings Conference Calls or Analyst Calls.

In addition to the databases below, transcripts or recordings are often made available on the Investor Relations page of the company's website.

  • Search for a company  >  [left menu] News, Events, & Filings (scroll down)  >  Transcripts
  • Use the Search Within This Publication link on the upper-left side of the screen.
  • Learn this Search: Analyst Reports
  • Content Restrictions: 
    • Reports are embargoed for 14 days prior to being made available in this database.
    • Select firms do not permit their reports to be distributed in this database, particularly: Goldman Sachs, Barclays, Jefferies, Moody′s Analytics, Moody′s Investors Services, Morgan Stanley, Morningstar, and UBS. 
  • Search for a company  >  [left menu] Estimates  >  CIQ Estimates
  • Learn this Search: M&A

For public companies involved in a merger/acquisition, the parties' SEC Filings and Earnings Conference Calls, leading up to and shortly after the event, can provide helpful insights about each party's motives.

In particular, pay attention to an SEC filing called the DEFM14A, if one exists.
(Caveat: A large company that's acquiring a small target might not release a DEFM14A.)