Speaking of financial research, What is important is being able to extrapolate all that data, and there is a lot of data out there, into a usable form for you to make wise investment decisions. And, with all the various ratios we've been discussing in class, we also now have the means to utilize some of those formulas and concepts for what you feel is most relevant in making decisions. Which is almost no different than when you are all in executive management making these decisions for organization as well.
What are the competitors doing? Well, you can find out a lot of their financial data online. What is our industry doing? Again, that information is very readily available for all of us online for intensive research. But... as with anything online, it is critically imperative that you trust and understand your source. There is a lot of garbage out there as well and oftentimes, especially for financials, one must be very cautious in trusting everything that is written. This is where a good cross-checking spreadsheet comes in handy.
Does Bloomberg, Google, and the SEC site all contain the same data? Do your other sources contain the same data as well?