A given company may have many divisions and aspects to their everyday operations. A single company may have branches that register under radically different NAICS codes to the main business. Apple, for instance, has a 725511 - Full Service Restaurants NAICS code because of its on-campus restaurants. Obviously, if you are making a search for full-service restaurants, one of the world's largest tech manufacturers probably isn't what you had in mind - even if it is, technically, correct. 

To make sure that your searches don't yield these kinds of irrelevant results, we're introducing a new search criterion: Primary NAICS Code! You can access this feature through the NAICS section of the Company Finder, on the right-hand side next to the Traded and Local Industry radio buttons.

To continue our Apple example from earlier, we can see that by clicking on Apple in the Company Finder now includes a (Primary) tag next to NAICS 511210 - Software Publishing. 

A Primary NAICS Code is generally the code that is most relevant to a company, as measured by its revenue or value of shipments. For instance, a metal fabrication company that produces 10 aerospace component units annually valued at $100 million each could easily be labelled as an aerospace parts manufacturer, even if they also manufacture cutlery for the restaurant industry in higher volumes more consistently throughout the year, but with a significantly lower total value.

This is worth bearing in mind when you conduct a search. A Primary NAICS search for, say, 5111210 - Software Publishing yields companies for whom software publishing is the highest-revenue element of their business, not necessarily the highest-earning software publishers. 

Secondary NAICS Codes are all the ‘other’ NAICS codes that can be attributed to the company in question. Large firms, especially investment firms, often have a wide range of secondary NAICS codes. In Apple's case, you can see that it covers fields as diverse as 454110 - Electronic Shopping and Mail-Order Houses and the aforementioned 722511 - Full-Service Restaurants. A Primary NAICS code search for either of these will ensure Apple doesn't appear in your results when you don't want it to be there.

That's it for today! If you have any questions or comments about this article or our platform, please don't hesitate to let us know!

Until next time, happy Gazelle-ing!
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