Company Sources

• Direct company data is one of the best sources for researching a stock. Any publicly-traded company has to release certain government-mandated data. By viewing these reports, you can often determine the financial status of a company you're looking into investing with. Look at the reports to get a feel for the current financial position of the company, as well as an idea of its past performance. This information is only accurate up to the date the reports were written, so the information may be anywhere from a quarter to a year old, depending on the nature of the reports.
  
  You can find useful financial information in a company's annual reports, financial and operating reviews and SEC filings. For information concerning future operations look at various company publicity releases and listen in to publicly- available conference calls.
  
  You should keep in mind that all this easily obtainable information while useful is being released by a company which wants you to invest with them. As such, while accurate, this information alone does not present a full and unbiased look into the company's financial situation. For that you'll have to view outside sources as well.
  
  

News Congregators

• Look into news congregation sites like MSN Money or Yahoo! Finance for outside company information to research a stock. These sites carry not only the official company line, but also outside-sourced information that may pertain to a company's performance both past and present. Looking through the archived news on a company provides a much wider view of that company than company reports and will tell you the things the company wishes kept away from likely investors. The sites also have the added advantage of being free, unlike specialty stock analysts.
  
  

Stock Analysts

• You can purchase detailed reports on a stock from specialty stock analysts who have spent years following a company or industry. These reports offer a wide-scale look at a stock, taking into account its past performance, the industry makeup, market conditions, even the company leadership and can give you a fairly accurate look at the company's present financial and operational conditions. Depending on the level of detail and the expertise of the analyst, these reports can be costly, running into the multiple thousands of dollars. You can find pared down versions of these reports from specialty sites online like Morningstar.com at heavy discounts.