To find a company’s valuation, start with the free SEC filings on EDGAR at sec.gov, where proxy statements and annual reports disclose detailed valuation work from both management and hired investment banks. For analyst price targets and forward-looking models, you’ll need equity research reports, which come through a brokerage account, a professional terminal like Bloomberg, or a library that offers terminal access. Knowing which kind of valuation data you actually need decides where you look and what you pay.
Start Free on EDGAR
Every public U.S. company files disclosure documents with the SEC, and every filing is searchable for free through EDGAR (Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis, and Retrieval). The search tool at sec.gov/edgar/search takes a company name, ticker, or CIK number and lets you filter by filing type and date range.1U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. EDGAR Full Text Search Experienced investors check EDGAR before paying for anything, because much of the valuation work banks produce ends up embedded in these public filings anyway.
Two filing types carry the most valuation content. Schedule 14A proxy statements and Form S-4 registration statements often contain full investment bank valuation analyses when a company is being sold or acquired. Annual reports on Form 10-K contain management’s own valuation assumptions for assets, goodwill, and business units.
Fairness Opinions in Merger Filings
When a board agrees to a merger or acquisition, it almost always hires an investment bank to issue a fairness opinion: a formal letter stating whether the deal price is fair to shareholders from a financial standpoint. These represent some of the most detailed bank valuation work you will ever see in a public document, because the bank has to justify its conclusion to shareholders voting on the deal.
Fairness opinions appear in two places on EDGAR. For mergers requiring a shareholder vote, look in Schedule 14A proxy statements filed under Section 14(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.2U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. DEFA14A – Sculptor Capital Management For deals involving stock issuance, look in Form S-4 registration statements. The SEC does not technically require a board to obtain a fairness opinion, but if one was received and the proxy references it, the full text and methodology must be disclosed.3eCFR. 17 CFR 240.14a-101 Schedule 14A Information Required in Proxy Statement In practice, virtually every significant merger includes one, because boards want the legal cover of showing they sought independent financial advice.
Inside the filing, the bank lays out its methodology in unusual detail. You will typically see a discounted cash flow analysis with projected revenue, expenses, and the discount rate applied; a comparable company analysis benchmarking the target against similar public firms; and often a precedent transactions analysis looking at what acquirers paid in prior deals in the same industry. The bank presents a range of values rather than a single number, showing how the valuation shifts under different growth rate and discount rate assumptions.2U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. DEFA14A – Sculptor Capital Management
To find one, go to sec.gov/edgar/search, type the company name, and filter for proxy materials or registration statements. Adding a phrase like “fairness opinion” or “opinion of financial advisor” in the search box narrows results dramatically.1U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. EDGAR Full Text Search The opinion itself is usually attached as an annex; the summary of methodology sits in the body of the filing.
Valuation Disclosures in the 10-K
You do not need a merger to find institutional-quality valuation data. Every public company’s annual 10-K contains valuation assumptions that reveal how management sees the worth of its own business segments and assets.
Critical Accounting Estimates in the MD&A
The Management’s Discussion and Analysis section of a 10-K includes a discussion of critical accounting estimates. Where fair value measurements involve significant judgment, such as pricing derivative contracts, estimating the value of acquired intangible assets, or writing down impaired investments, the company must describe the methodology it used and the material assumptions underlying the estimate.4U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Disclosure in MD&A About the Application of Critical Accounting Policies This tells you which valuation models management relies on and what inputs drive the numbers. The language is less granular than a fairness opinion, but it applies to the company as an ongoing business rather than a one-time deal.
Goodwill Impairment Testing
Companies that have made acquisitions carry goodwill on their balance sheet and must test it for impairment at least once a year. Under ASC 350, the company compares the fair value of each reporting unit to its carrying amount. If the carrying amount exceeds fair value, the company recognizes an impairment loss for the difference and must disclose the facts that led to it, the amount, and the method used to determine fair value, which is almost always a discounted cash flow model. In effect, these disclosures tell you what the company believes an entire business segment is worth.
What Equity Research Reports Add
Outside SEC filings, the other major source of company valuation data is the equity research produced by sell-side analysts at investment banks. These are the reports behind the price targets and buy/hold/sell ratings quoted in financial news. Analysts assigned to a specific set of companies track earnings releases, filings, and industry shifts, and their reports contain full valuation models: projected revenue streams, expense forecasts, and a price target based on where the analyst believes the stock should trade.
These reports matter because they move institutional money. When Goldman Sachs or Morgan Stanley changes a price target, portfolio managers holding the stock react. Reading the reasoning behind the target, not just the number, tells you which assumption shifted: revised growth, competitive dynamics, or the discount rate.
The catch: these reports are proprietary. Banks produce them for clients. They are not filed with the SEC and do not appear on EDGAR.
How to Get Bank Research Reports
The most accessible route is a retail brokerage account. Most major online brokerages now include third-party research as a standard feature, even for accounts with no minimum balance. Look inside your account for a tab labeled “Research,” “Insights,” or “Market Analysis,” enter the ticker, and filter by issuing firm or date to find a specific report.
The research available through a standard brokerage account often comes from independent providers rather than the largest Wall Street banks. To get Goldman Sachs or J.P. Morgan research specifically, you may need a premium tier, a wealth management relationship, or a direct institutional account. Minimum asset thresholds for premium research vary widely and have been dropping as brokerages compete for customers.
Before you search, identify who covers the company. The investor relations page on the company’s website usually lists the analysts and their affiliated banks that actively publish research on the firm. That saves you searching blind.
Bloomberg, FactSet, and Library Access
Professional terminals like Bloomberg and FactSet aggregate research from hundreds of banks and independent providers into a single searchable interface. They offer the most comprehensive access to equity research, consensus estimates, and historical valuation data. A Bloomberg subscription runs roughly $20,000 or more per year, which puts it out of reach for most individual investors.
Some university and public libraries offer Bloomberg access. Business school libraries are the most reliable option, though policies vary; some restrict terminals to enrolled students and faculty, others allow community members on-site. Call ahead. You cannot download reports to take home, but you can review them on the terminal and take notes.
Consensus Estimates for Free
If you care more about market consensus than any single bank’s methodology, free platforms like Yahoo Finance and Google Finance publish the average price target and rating across all covering analysts. You don’t get the underlying models, but you get the number.
Read the Conflict Disclosures
Bank research is not a neutral academic exercise. The bank issuing the report may have an investment banking relationship with the company being analyzed, which creates an incentive to publish favorable coverage. Two rules make those conflicts visible.
FINRA Rule 2241 requires every equity research report to disclose whether the bank managed a public offering for the company in the past 12 months, received investment banking fees from the company, or expects to seek such business in the next three months. It also requires disclosure of any financial interest the analyst personally holds in the stock.5FINRA. FINRA Rule 2241 Research Analysts and Research Reports If the bank uses a rating system, it must disclose what percentage of its rated companies fall into buy, hold, and sell categories, and what percentage of each category are investment banking clients. That last figure is telling: if a bank rates 60% of its investment banking clients as “buy,” weigh the recommendation accordingly.
Regulation AC requires every research analyst to personally certify that the views in the report genuinely reflect their own opinion and to disclose whether any part of their compensation was tied to the specific recommendation.6eCFR. 17 CFR Part 242 Regulation AC Analyst Certification The certification sits at the front or back of the report. Compensation partially linked to a recommendation is a flag worth noting before you rely on the valuation.
When Reports Won’t Exist
There are windows when no bank research exists on a company, no matter where you look. FINRA Rule 2241 prohibits a bank from publishing research for at least 10 days after an IPO if it participated as underwriter. After a secondary offering where the bank served as manager, the blackout lasts at least three days.5FINRA. FINRA Rule 2241 Research Analysts and Research Reports These quiet periods exist so banks cannot use favorable research to prop up an offering they helped sell.
For a newly public company, the first analyst reports appear no earlier than 10 days after trading begins, and many banks wait longer to avoid any appearance of impropriety. If you’re hunting institutional valuation data on a recent IPO and finding nothing, that is why. During the gap, the S-1 registration statement on EDGAR, which contains the company’s own financial projections and risk factors, is your best source.
Sharing Filings vs. Sharing Reports
SEC filings on EDGAR are public documents. You can cite, quote, and share them freely. Equity research reports are copyrighted, and access terms almost universally prohibit redistribution: no forwarding, no posting online, no sharing outside your own use. Passing along material nonpublic information from a report before it becomes widely available can also carry liability under the federal securities laws governing insider trading and selective disclosure.7U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Selective Disclosure and Insider Trading If you plan to reference valuation data in anything you publish, the EDGAR filings are the safe source.