SEC filings

In detail

SEC filings are the standardized disclosures that US public companies, their executives, and their large shareholders are legally required to submit to the Securities and Exchange Commission. Every filing is public, free, and searchable through EDGAR, the SEC's electronic filing system. They are the primary source most financial data is ultimately derived from — what a data provider sells you is usually a repackaged filing. The forms an individual investor encounters most often: - 10-K — the annual report. Audited financial statements, a description of the business, and the risk factors management is willing to put in writing. The most complete single document about a company. - 10-Q — the quarterly report. Unaudited, shorter, and the usual source of quarter-to-quarter revenue and margin figures. - 8-K — a material event, filed within four business days. Executive departures, acquisitions, earnings releases, auditor changes, bankruptcy. - Form 4 — an insider transaction. Officers, directors, and holders of more than 10% of a class of stock must report purchases and sales within two business days. - Schedule 13D / 13G — a holder crossing 5% ownership. 13D signals intent to influence the company; 13G indicates a passive stake. - 13F — quarterly holdings of institutional managers running over $100 million. Filed up to 45 days after quarter end, so it is history rather than news. - DEF 14A — the proxy statement. Executive compensation, board composition, and the matters shareholders vote on. - S-1 — the registration statement filed ahead of an IPO. Two things are worth knowing about reading them. Filings are written by lawyers for regulators rather than by the company for you, so plain statements are rare and a change in wording between periods often carries more information than the wording itself. And a filing states what happened without interpreting it: an insider sale reported on a Form 4 may be a scheduled 10b5-1 transaction with no bearing on the company's prospects, and the form alone will not tell you which.