1. How do I learn more about my company?
2. "What are League Tables?"
3. "Where can I find League Tables?"
4. "How do I retrieve a league table in Bloomberg?"
5. "In Bloomberg, how do I find specific deals an investment firm has been involved with?"
6. "In Bloomberg, How do I create a customized search to identify deals meeting certain criteria (industry, underwriter/advisor, geographic location, deal type, etc)?"
7. "Can I find league tables and deal details on the web for free?"
8. "I have an upcoming interview in which I will need to pitch a stock. What research tools can help me with this?"

1.  "How do I learn more about my company?"

Hoovers is an excellent source of overview information on large U.S. and international companies. The Profile report in Hoovers provides an overview, company history, list of subsidiaries, brands, geographic and product revenue segmentation data, list of competitors, officer information, and links to financial data and annual reports. Hoovers is a public web site, however to get access to some of the subscription components of the site like the Profile report, you need to access it via the library link above.

Follow up your Hoovers research with Factiva. Factiva provides access to full-text articles from over 8,000 magazines and newspapers worldwide, so you can retrieve recent news on your company as well as find more specific information about a specific division, product line or aspect of the company. Factiva is a large database, so if you are searching for articles on a big company and retrieve a large number of results, stop by the reference desk for assistance constructing a search that retrieves a better set of results.

Investext provides analyst reports on companies and industries. Consult Investext to read reports written by the group with which you are interviewing, or read reports about your company to learn the outlook for the firm.

Finally, remember that Vault and WetFeet Press reports are also available. Both provide the "inside scoop" on a company's strengths, culture, attitude toward diversity, promotional opportunities, and recruitment process, as well as a day in the life of a typical MBA new hire. Vault reports are available to Johnson School students via the CMC's CJ Online database. WetFeet Press reports are available to undergraduate Cornell Students via the Cornell Career Services Library.

2.  "What are League Tables?"

Investment banking league tables rank investment banks on their level of involvement in specific types of transactions. An individual league table might, for example, rank the investment advisors of M&A deals (usually by aggregate deal volume) and another might rank the underwriters of IPO or fixed income offerings.

3.  "Where can I find League Tables?"

• Investment Dealers Digest (available on reserve at the Circulation Desk) provides year-end league tables in their "Underwriting and Banking Year-End Review" which is published annually in January. IDD provides U.S. and global league tables for M&A and various types of debt and equity offerings, including short and long term debt, high yield corporate, asset-backed securities, mortgage-backed securities, sovereign debt, municipal debt, IPOs, secondary equity offerings, convertible & non-convertible stock, and more.
• Bloomberg provides dynamic league tables that update as new transactions are announced/completed. Bloomberg provides coverage in similar categories as IDD and Bloomberg provides deal-level detail for all transactions in the most recent year. Bloomberg also contains a search function so that you can create leage tables according to specific criteria.
• Finally SDC Platinum, a Thomson Financial product, is the most comprehensive and reputable library source for M&A deals and equity offerings. SDC provides dynamically-updated league tables as well, although retrieving them is somewhat more cumbersome than it is in Bloomberg.

4.  "How do I retrieve a league table in Bloomberg?"

In Bloomberg, type LEAG [GO]. Bloomberg will display overall rankings for underwriters of all types of offerings. You may modify this ranking for a different time period using the pull-down menus. If you want to specify a particular type of offering, click Select a market and select a type of offering. When you do this, an offer-type pull-down menu will appear which will allow you to narrow your search (e.g. from all Equity Offerings down to IPOs only).

Type MA and press the [Go] key. Click 7. M&A League Table Search and in the Financial Advisors column select the league table you wish to view.

5.  "In Bloomberg, how do I find specific deals an investment firm has been involved with?"

For Underwriters:

Follow the steps in Question #4 above. When you have displayed the league table, click on the bank whose deals you wish to display. A list of major, recent underwritings will appear. Click any of the offerings and select Offering Info to see details of the offering.

Follow the steps in Question #4 above. When you have displayed the league table, click your bank to view recent deals and click a deal to view deal details.

6.  "In Bloomberg, How do I create a customized search to identify deals meeting certain criteria (industry, underwriter/advisor, geographic location, deal type, etc)?"

Type LEAG and press the [GO] key. Click Select a Market, select Custom Market, and click Add a Custom Market. Select your criteria and run the search.

Type MA and press the [GO] key. Click 7. M&A League Table Search and in the Custom Search section, select one of the searches. Clear any criteria set up by a previous user by typing 2 and pressing the [GO] key. Select your criteria and type 1 and press the [GO] key to run your search.

7.  "Can I find league tables and deal details on the web for free?"

Mergerstat's web site, http://www.mergerstat.com has a Free Reports section which ranks top deals, leading financial & legal advisors, overall activity, and industry rankings. Users must register to access this data, but registration is free. There are no deal details available freely on this site. 

8.  "I have an upcoming interview in which I will need to pitch a stock. What research tools can help me with this?"

Use Bloomberg or Yahoo! Finance to identify companies which meet your financial, industry, security type, and other criteria. Bloomberg allows international companies to be included in your search. Yahoo! Finance is available remotely and is freely available.

• In Bloomberg, type EQS and press [Go]. Begin to type the criteria you wish to screen on in the amber box. Pop-ups will prompt and guide you through the process. Ask a reference staff person if you need assistance.
• In Yahoo! Finance, click Launch Yahoo! Finance Stock Screener.