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Industry reports and ratios may help you to examine a company or event within the broader macroeconomic context of the industry.
U. S. industries are often tracked using industry codes (e.g. NAICS and SIC). Many of the Library's company and industry databases allow you to search or browse by NAICS or SIC code or search by a keyword in the industry title.
NAICS (rhymes with snakes), is the North American Industry Classification System. It is a 6-digit, hierarchical code that is used to classify "lines of business" for establishments for the purpose of collecting, analyzing, and publishing statistical data. NAICS codes were adopted in 1997 to replace the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) system.
See the NAICS Main Page, which includes a browseable hierarchy/structure of codes and a keyword search. The graphic at right shows the 2022 two-digit NAICS industry sector (broad categories) codes.
Using an example of shoes/footwear the following sectors and NAICS codes might be of interest.
Sectors 31 to 33 are Manufacturing
316210: Footwear/shoe manufacturing
423910: Specialty athletic footwear (bowling, golf, cleated) manufacturing
Sector 42 is Wholesale Trade
424340: Footwear merchant wholesalers
Sectors 44 and 45 are Retail Trade
458210: Shoe Stores
459110: Shoe stores, specialty sports footwear (bowling, golf, cleated)
Please note: NAICS codes are updated every 5 to 7 years so databases and websites may use an earlier code for an industry and may even use the SIC code.
The Library subscribes to only the United States module from IBISWorld. You may find global or international industry reports on Business Source Complete and/or Business Market Research Collection. The search examples shown below have been limited to the industry reports source/document type and are only representative of the type of reports available in these databases.
Business Market Research Collection database search for footwear or shoe and industry. Results limited to document typle: industry report and publication date 2020 to 2023. (Image captured 26Oct2023)
Below are several reports retreived by the search above. Reports were retrieved for both the shoe stores and footwear manufacturing industries. The FirstResearch reports are global, covering all major countries and companies active in the industry.
These databases provide aggregated financial ratios for companies in an industry. Industry ratios allow you to compare a specific company's ratios to the industry.
These databases do not provide ratios for individual companies. For those, see What are financial ratios? on the Financials/Investments page of this research guide.
