RESEARCH REPORTS ON-LINE:

These days there is less free research available through institutions. Paid-for research has partially filled the gap. However, it is difficult to know how objective paid-for research may be. Investorside Research Assn. is a non-profit trade association of investment research providers that do not engage in investment banking, company consulting or research-for-hire. Their members constitute the leading investment research firms in the world, providing research that works purely for investors.

Before ordering research reports, how do you know which analysts are the best? Go to StarMine, Zacks, , Investars, and ValidIdea, websites with different approaches devoted to rating the analysts. In addition, Institutional Investor Magazine publishes a written analyst ranking.

• Research Reports for sale via Reuters
• Tap into over 1.5 million analyst research reports on companies and industries from more than 500 brokerages and independent research providers.
• Zacks Analyst Watch
• Zacks Investment Research of Chicago is making its database of 5,000 equities available on the Internet and offers a free demo. Like Streetnet, below, this site features a lot of analyst research and is a good place to look for companies you can’t find elsewhere.
• Cohen Independent Research Group.
• Independent third party stock research business selectively initiates Independent Research Analyst Coverage for overlooked public corporations.
• VectorVest
• Offers free stock analysis on over 7,000 stocks.
• VEreports (div. of Value Engine)
• Independent and industry research valuations on more than 10,000 U.S. companies in 200 U.S. industries, and 12,500 mutual funds
• EquityNet Research
• Offers analyst reports of smaller companies (paid for by the companies).
• Burritt Research
• Offers analyst reports of smaller companies (paid for by the companies).
• InvesTrend
• Offers analyst reports of smaller companies (paid for by the companies).
• Fundamental Research Corp.
• Offers analyst reports of smaller companies (paid for by the companies).
• Spellman Research
• Offers analyst reports of smaller companies (paid for by the companies).
• J. M. Dutton & Assoc.
• Offers analyst reports of smaller companies (paid for by the companies).
• Taglich Brothers
• Offers analyst reports of smaller companies (paid for by the companies).

CORPORATE GOVERNANCE RATINGS:

In the wake of scandals and Sarbanes-Oxley, new rating services sprang up with subscriptions aimed at institutional investors. Many are too expensive for individual investors.

• GovernanceMetrics International (GMI)
• “The world’s first global corporate governance ratings agency.”
• The Corporate Library
• Click on “Products” for information about their “Board Analyst” database and their “Information Screening Tool”.
• Council of Institutional Investors (CII)
• This group is concerned with corporate governance. Much information is available only to members.
• Glass Lewis
• Their “CorpUS Report” includes financial transparency and corporate governance.

SITES COVERING SPECIFIC INDUSTRIES:

There are many trade associations and industry lists on the Web. Here is a small sampling of industry sources.

• Oil & Gas, Mining, Energy
• Info-Mine — probably the biggest source of oil and gas, mining, and related information.
• Manufacturing and Industry
• Thomas Register of American Manufacturers
• Environmental
• Air and Waste Management Association
• Agricultural
• Agricultural Links