When researching a company, it is important to know whether it is public, private or a subsidiary of a larger company.
Public companies sell shares of the company (stocks) to the general public, and are required to submit financial information and annual reports to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Public companies are generally easier to research as more public information is available.
Private companies do not sell publicly traded stocks and as a result, are not required to share as much information. If a company name search in Nexis Uni Company Dossier does not provide any results, the company is almost certainly private.
Subsidiaries of public companies can be difficult to research because the parent company is not required to report on each of them individually. When researching a subsidiary, read carefully through reports about the parent company and look for references and information relevant to the subsidiary.