How important is access to confidential information when investing?

Warren Buffet seems to decide which company to buy just by reading annual reports, i.e. public information. Similarly, Hedge Funds invest in public companies by going through publicly available information:annual reports, company/industry research,etc. Why can't PE firms do the same - acquire companies without access to confidential information, just by using publicly available daya? Why is this information confidential in the first place and not made public by all companies-there won't be any insider trading if all companies make everything public. So if some firms/individuals can make investments just by using public info why can't the others do the same?

 
SpiderMonkeyOhYes:
The answer is..

because they don't have to.

ok, but the main point of my questions is how useful is access to confidential information if other players in the market can invest based on just public info. what's the catch?

 

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