| BUSINESSWEEK ONLINE : MAY 24, 1999 ISSUE | ||||||||
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| COVER STORY
This EDGAR Is a Real Know-It-All Need corporate info? Here's the perfect database If you're like most investors, you're overwhelmed by corporate mailings. Who has time to read--much less file--all those earnings statements and annual reports? You can chuck that paper without guilt or fear. Should you ever need to look up Acme Corp.'s capital investments, EDGAR is there to help. EDGAR (Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis & Retrieval) is the database of all documents public companies are required to file electronically with the Securities & Exchange Commission. While the raw database can be mind-numbing, several Web sites have added easy-to-use interfaces, making it a snap to find most public information on a company or mutual fund (table). The best part: Nearly all of it is free. To find the most recent annual report for Anheuser-Busch, for instance, I typed the company's ticker symbol, BUD, at www.freeedgar.com, and within seconds had the report--minus glossy photos--on my screen. EDGAR is a bit spotty on mutual-fund prospectuses and semiannual reports. That's because the SEC is slowly phasing in a requirement that all fund companies file those reports electronically. In addition, information on funds is under the parent company's name. So to find Legg Mason Value Trust Fund's prospectus, you have to search for Legg Mason and wade through hundreds of documents. ''WE'RE STILL FINE-TUNING.'' The EDGAR database is great for comparing a company's numbers over time. To find changes in Ameritech's research and development costs from one quarter to the next, I went to PricewaterhouseCoopers' EdgarScan and typed in Ameritech's ticker symbol, AIT. I opted to view the balance sheet and income statement in the most recent quarterly report, or 10Q, in an Excel spreadsheet, rather than text. By repeating the process with the previous quarter's 10Q, I compiled a table of quarter-to-quarter comparisons, all on the same spreadsheet file. Not all downloads go quite so smoothly. EDGAR Online also had Ameritech's 10Q. Since the software didn't recognize the balance sheets and income statements as tables, I had to cut and paste--a laborious process. But other attempts worked fine. ''We're still fine-tuning our system,'' says a staffer on the site's toll-free service number. Another handy EDGAR Online feature is the people search function. It tells you how many shares top executives or outsiders with stakes of 5% or more own. To research the number of shares that SBC Communications CEO Edward Whitacre holds, I typed in Whitacre's name and SBC's ticker symbol, then selected the type of document I wanted--in this case, proxy statements. The search engine highlighted Whitacre's name every time it was mentioned in the most recent statement, making it easy to discover that he owned 2,743,000 shares on Mar. 31. Last year's statement revealed that Whitacre owned 1,211,000 shares then. While the people search function is free, sophisticated users should consider EDGAR Online's $9.95-a-month service. Among its benefits is access to data on trading by corporate insiders, which doesn't have to be filed electronically. EDGAR Online gets insider forms in hard copy from the SEC and puts the information into its database within 24 hours. If you're considering buying General Electric, wouldn't you want to know whether CEO Jack Welch recently bought or sold stock? BY SAM JAFFE _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ BACK TO TOP |
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 Your Guide to Online Investing COVER IMAGE: Our Guide to Online Investing CHART: The Biggest Online Brokers TABLE: Broker Scoreboards TABLE: Online Brokers That Meet Your Needs Gotta Do the Legwork ``A Diversity of Thought'' Testing the Waters Commentary: Why Old-Line Firms Need New Online Tricks TABLE: Full-Service Dream The Right Tools for the Right Trades Street.Cop TABLE: Smart Investing on the Web TABLE: Web Resources for Online Investors Rocket Science Made Simple TABLE: Quant for a Day How to Seal a Great Bond Deal TABLE: Where to Buy...And Get Info What to Read: The Good, the Bad, and the Terrible TABLE: Wired-Up Investing Books Investor Beware of Web Talk TABLE: Separating Fact from Fiction TABLE: Cross Checkers Smells Fishy? Tell the SEC This EDGAR Is a Real Know-It-All TABLE: Searching the SEC Commentary: Analyst Calls: Let Investors Listen TABLE: Calling All Netizens The Barker Portfolio: A Battle Plan for Accidental Investors Inside Wall Street: Wells Fargo Online CHART: The Rise Trails Other Banks Inside Wall Street: Bidding for 3COM? CHART: Prior Takeovers Fizzled Out Inside Wall Street: A TV-To-Net Linkup CHART: ACTV's Rise Is Due to E-Commerce INTERACT E-Mail to Business Week Online | |||
