Factiva, a database from Dow Jones and Reuters, provides national and international content, including Dow Jones and Reuters newswires and the Wall Street Journal. It provides timely information from financial quotes, market data, newspapers, companies and industry news.

Use the guide below for instructions on researching industries and businesses through Factiva.

Step 1:

To begin your research of ratios, go to the Factiva database, where, along the top of the page, are a number of tabs, including Search, Alerts, Newsletters, and Companies/Markets. Hover the cursor over the Companies/Markets tab. Doing so will cause to open the additional options: Companies, Industries, Quotes, Market Data Charts. Click on Industries.

Step 2:

Clicking on the tab will result in a raft of industry titles. Click on the industry matching your research needs, for example, Electric Utilities. Not all industries are listed. So, it may prove necessary to click on the industry nearest to the one being researched.

Step 3:

The Industry Snapshot for Electric Utilities arises when Electric Utilities is clicked. The Industry Snapshot includes a Discovery Pane, Keywords, Industry Classification, Top Participants by Sales, Industry News, Portfolio Companies by Industry, and Industry Averages and Ratios.

Factiva provides several averages and ratios within Industry Averages and Ratios, including P/E Ratio, Current Ratio, Debt to Equity Ratio, and other data useful in the research of industries and business.

Step 4:

Factiva provides other useful research options on this page, including Analysis and Profiles, Peer Comparison, and News.

News is home to current industry news updated daily. Peer Comparison presents competitor ranking of the top 10 through 100 or the bottom 10 through 100 companies within the industry. The comparisons are by sales, employees and market cap in the Dow Jones Industry Classification or NAICS code. Analysis and Profiles presents industry analysts reports from companies, such as Business Monitor International, Marketline, Mergent Industry Reports, MarketReasearch.com, and Standard & Poor's Industry Investment Reviews. The detailed reports cover analyses and reviews that include industry tables with performance and valuation statistics.

Step 5:

To ensure a robust and accurate report, researchers should peruse this entire record provided through Factiva before concluding the analysis.