FAQ: What are investor relations websites? What information can I find there?

What are Investor Relations websites?

Investor relations websites are a standard part of a publicly-traded company’s web presence. Companies use these sites to present investors, potential investors, and media outlets with an attractive and coherent vision of the company’s operations and financial performance. These sites can include strategic, disclosure, financial, governance, corporate social responsibility, and other information. These pages are publicly available and intentionally easy to find. This information is presented with a purpose: to attract new investors.

Investor Relations pages combine company-authored and legally mandated content. Some of this information has been checked by independent accounting firms. When using resources from an investor relations website you should consider how you can combine this content with material from other sources to gain a more complete understanding of your chosen company.

What Information Can I Find in Investor Relations Websites?

Investor relations websites can be organized in different ways but have elements in common. Your exploration should focus on identifying and reviewing the elements that are related to what you want to know. Companies may label these elements differently.

Corporate profile: A company’s corporate profile tells you about the company. Look for the company’s products or services, history, location, size, markets, mission, vision, and values. 

Corporate officers/corporate governance: Look for biographical information on company officers and documentation of corporate governance, governance frameworks, and operating policies.

Financial data: Look for financial data (generally organized by quarter and year), visual presentations of financial data, and forecasting. This information may be bundled with Annual Reports and SEC filings.

Annual reports/SEC filings: Most companies will provide an annual report that summarizes the previous fiscal year. Additionally:

• For U.S.-based companies, look for Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings Forms 10-K, 10-Q, and 8-K.
• For global companies that sell securities on exchanges in the U.S. look for Forms 20-F.
• Companies in the European Union may file a Universal Registration Document.

Stock data: Look for current and historical share prices, trade volume, and visual presentations of stock data.

Events/presentations: Events may include annual shareholders meetings, quarterly earnings calls, and conference presentations. Companies may provide summaries, recordings, slides, or transcripts of these events. These documents can provide an analysis of the company’s operations and information on their strategy.

Press releases: Press releases can tell you about a company’s strategy. Look for news, new products or services, announced mergers, acquisitions, or partnerships.

Corporate social responsibility information: Look for information on community impact, sustainability, equity and inclusion, and other corporate social responsibility topics. These may take the form of a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) report.

How do I Find Investor Relations Websites?

Investor relations websites are publicly available on the web. Use your preferred search engine to search the name of the publicly-traded company and add the words “AND investor relations”.

Examples:

• Ford AND investor relations
• Amazon AND investor relations

Review your results list for results that include the words "Investor Relations," "Investors," or "Shareholders" in the website title. You may also see "investor," "invest," "ir," "shareholders," or related terms in the URL of the website.

Finally, the content of the page will confirm that you are in the right place. Click on the link for the page that you think looks most promising and look for the components described above.

For More Information About a Company

If you do not find the information you need about a company from its website or its investor relations website, these library databases might have what you need:

• Business Insights: Global - Gale This link opens in a new window
• Capital IQ This link opens in a new window
• D&B Hoovers This link opens in a new window
• Mergent Online This link opens in a new window

Also, be sure to check out the Company Information research guide or search for more databases on the A-Z Database List and use the All Subjects drop-down menu and specify "Company & Industry Information."

Content authored by: CC