---
title: "What Does That Company Do? Research Any Stock in 10 Minutes"
description: "What does Entegris make? What is FMC, Oklo or Veralto? How to answer 'what does this company actually do' for any stock from its 10-K, where the official employee count lives, and what insider filings add."
canonical: https://insideralpha.ai/learn/how-to-research-a-public-company
date_published: 2026-07-27
date_updated: 2026-09-23
publisher: InsiderAlpha (https://insideralpha.ai)
---

Canonical URL: https://insideralpha.ai/learn/how-to-research-a-public-company
Published 2026-07-27. Updated 2026-09-23.

# What does that company actually do?

Every public company answers this question, in its own words and under legal liability, in one place: **Item 1 ("Business") of its annual 10-K**. When a ticker you do not recognize turns up in an insider filing or a screen, start there, before any stock forum or screener. The routine below takes about ten minutes.

## The 10-minute routine

- **Minutes 1-2: the company page.** Search the name or ticker on [InsiderAlpha](https://insideralpha.ai/companies) for the sector, size, price history, and insider activity in one place.
- **Minutes 3-7: 10-K Item 1.** Read how the company describes its segments, customers, and competition. If a business cannot be understood from its own Item 1, that is information too.
- **Minute 8: headcount and scale.** The 10-K's "Human Capital" disclosure carries the official employee count. UPS, for example, reports roughly 490,000 employees worldwide; Dutch Bros roughly 24,000, mostly in its shops. Quote the 10-K rather than a secondhand summary that may be years old.
- **Minutes 9-10: what insiders are doing.** Form 4 filings show whether its directors and officers have been [buying or selling](https://insideralpha.ai/learn/insider-buying-signals).

## Worked examples from real searches

- **What does Entegris do?** [Entegris](https://insideralpha.ai/company/ENTG) makes the advanced materials, filters, and handling systems that keep semiconductor fabs free of contamination. It sells to chipmakers rather than making chips itself.
- **What is FMC Corp?** [FMC](https://insideralpha.ai/company/FMC) is an agricultural sciences company: insecticides, herbicides, fungicides, and crop-protection technology.
- **What is Oklo?** [Oklo](https://insideralpha.ai/company/OKLO) designs compact fast-fission power plants and aims to sell the power they generate rather than the reactors; it listed in 2024.
- **What is Veralto?** [Veralto](https://insideralpha.ai/company/VLTO) (VLTO) is Danaher's 2023 spin-off: water-quality testing and product-identification businesses.
- **What is Rocket Companies?** [Rocket](https://insideralpha.ai/company/RKT) is the parent of Rocket Mortgage, America's largest retail mortgage originator, plus title and personal-finance arms.
- **What is Global Payments?** [Global Payments](https://insideralpha.ai/company/GPN) processes card transactions for merchants and issuers worldwide.
- **What is Hain Celestial?** [Hain Celestial](https://insideralpha.ai/company/HAIN) sells organic and natural foods (Celestial Seasonings teas, Terra chips).
- **What is Pool Corporation?** [Pool Corp](https://insideralpha.ai/company/POOL) is the world's largest wholesale distributor of swimming-pool supplies.
- **What is Prospect Capital?** [Prospect Capital](https://insideralpha.ai/company/PSEC) is a business development company (BDC) that lends to mid-market firms and pays out most income as dividends.
- **What is Coupang?** [Coupang](https://insideralpha.ai/company/CPNG) runs e-commerce and logistics in South Korea and has been NYSE-listed since 2021.
- **What is RB Global?** [RB Global](https://insideralpha.ai/company/RBA) runs Ritchie Bros, the heavy-equipment auction marketplace, plus IAA salvage auctions.
- **What is Deckers Outdoor?** [Deckers](https://insideralpha.ai/company/DECK) owns the UGG and HOKA footwear brands.

## Why insider filings belong in basic research

The 10-K tells you what the business is. [Form 4 filings](https://insideralpha.ai/learn/sec-form-4) tell you what the people running it have done with their own shares. If an unfamiliar industrial company shows [cluster buying](https://insideralpha.ai/learn/cluster-buying) by its officers, that is a good reason to read its 10-K next. Each InsiderAlpha [company page](https://insideralpha.ai/companies) puts the business description next to the company's insider filings.

*This article is informational and is not investment advice.*