Reading SEC Filings: 10-K, 10-Q, and 8-K

Investing in US equities comes with a huge advantage: information is highly transparent. Every listed company must file standardized official documents with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and anyone can access them for free through the SEC's EDGAR system. These filings are a more first-hand and authoritative source than any news article or research report.

The Three Most Important Filings

• 10-K (annual report): filed once a year, the most comprehensive and detailed of all. It contains the full financial statements, a business description, risk factors, and Management's Discussion and Analysis (MD&A). To understand a company in depth, start by reading its 10-K.
• 10-Q (quarterly report): filed each quarter, more concise than the 10-K and not fully audited, used to track quarterly progress.
• 8-K (material events): filed on an ad hoc basis whenever something significant happens, such as a CEO change, an acquisition, a major contract, or delisting risk. It is the official source for breaking news.

Which Sections Newcomers Should Focus On

• Business: how the company makes money, in its own words.
• Risk Factors: the risks the company itself acknowledges, often overlooked yet highly valuable.
• MD&A: management's interpretation of results, helping you understand the "why" behind the numbers.
• Notes to the financial statements: the devil is in the details, and much of the key information (accounting policies, related-party transactions) lives in the notes.

“In investing, the most first-hand fact always beats the most compelling story.”— Investing Common Sense

Why This Sits at the Top of the Source Hierarchy

Remember the source hierarchy this platform emphasizes? Official first-hand filings (SEC/IR) sit at the very top, well above sell-side research and the second-hand interpretations of financial media. News chases headlines and research carries an agenda, whereas SEC filings are facts the company submits under legal liability, on a consistent basis. Learn to use EDGAR and you have tapped the wellspring of US equity research.

How This Maps to Our Platform

The platform's data-retrieval layer prioritizes official first-hand sources such as SEC EDGAR and binds each key figure to its source, rather than scraping a pile of unattributable "public data." Once you understand the standing of SEC filings, it becomes clearer why this platform's conclusions are more reliable than an offhand price target.