Q: Is there a way for investors to find out if a company that’s selling shares in an IPO is profitable or has revenue?

A:  The initial public offering market is often the last to know about a market recovery.

Even as the stock and bond markets have rallied from their 2009 lows, giving investors hope the bear market is over, IPOs are still slow. Just 21 IPOs have been offered to the public this year, down from the 39 through August of 2008 and 154 through August of 2007, says Renaissance Capital.

But eventually, IPOs will come back. In fact, there were a number of deals completed in mid-August, indicating to some experts signs of a very early recovery.

Even if IPOs come back, that doesn’t mean you should assume they are an easy way to make money. IPOs often have limited research and may have limited operating histories. You’re wise to wonder how to dig deeper into the fundamentals of newly public companies.

To answer your question, yes, there are ways to find out some details about IPOs. Every company that decides to have an IPO must provide an in-depth statement, called a prospectus, to investors and regulators. This document provides a full description of the business and the risks and opportunity it faces. The prospectus also furnishes financial statements to investors, which answer the very questions you have.

You can download a company’s prospectus, for free, from the web site of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. From www.sec.gov. just scroll down a bit to where you see Search for Company Filings just to the right of the gray border on the left-hand side of the page.

Next, click on the first link, which reads Company or fund name, ticker symbol, CIK Enter the IPO you’re interested in, which as an example, I’ll use Hyatt Hotels. When the filing comes up, click on the file/film number on the right hand side of the S-1 filing listing. Then click on the Documents button on the left side of the same S-1 filing listing.

When the page comes up, click on the document link listed under the Form S-1 listing, which is the official name of the prospectus.

If you scroll down in the document, you’ll find the company’s financial statements on page 10. For Hyatt, you see that the hotel chain generated total revenue of $1.6 billion during the six months ended 2009, which was down nearly 19% from the same time period in 2008.

And a little further down, you’ll notice Hyatt lost $36 million during the six months ended June 30, 2009. But you’ll see that Hyatt made $168 million, $270 million, $315 million and $336 million in 2008, 2007, 2006 and 2005 respectively.

This is just the most basic form of analysis you should do on any IPO you consider. And it’s just the start. There are many other things to consider including the risks, valuation, management and growth opportunities of the companies. Again, the prospectus will be your best friend when trying to analyze a company going public.

Matt Krantz is a financial markets reporter at USA TODAY and author of Investing Online for Dummies. He answers a different reader question every weekday in his Ask Matt column at money.usatoday.com. To submit a question, e-mail Matt at mkrantz@usatoday.com. Click here to see previous Ask Matt columns. Follow Matt on Twitter at: twitter.com/mattkrantz