Company financial information can be found many places on the Web, including www.financials.com, www.equityweb.com, and www.wsrn.com.

IBM's Web site has a good guide to reading financial statements. Select "Investor tools" at www.ibm.com/investor.

Go to www.moneycentral.msn.com and follow the "financial results" and then "key ratios" links to examine ratios for a huge number of companies, their industry, and a market index.

The online Women's Business Center has more information on financial statements, ratios, and small business topics at www.onlinewbc.gov.

Pricewaterhouse Coopers has a useful utility for extracting EDGAR data. Try it at edgarscan.pwcglobal.com.

You can find growth rates under the research links at www.multexinvestor.com and finance.yahoo.com.

Learn more about NAICS at www.naics.com.