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

US public companies must file their results and major events with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). News stories, analyst notes and AI summaries are all retellings; the filing is the original, signed by the company's officers, who are legally liable for what it says. When a number matters to you, read it there.

Filed once a year, 60 to 90 days after the year ends depending on the company's size. The parts worth your time: Item 1, Business (what the company sells, to whom, against whom); Item 1A, Risk Factors (what it says could hurt it — a risk that is new this year deserves more attention than the boilerplate); Item 7, Management's Discussion and Analysis (management explaining the numbers and what changed); and Item 8, the audited financial statements with their notes.

Filed for each of the first three quarters, within 40 or 45 days. Its financial statements are reviewed by the auditor rather than audited, and the discussion is shorter. Read it for how the latest quarter compares with the same quarter a year earlier, and for anything management now says differently.

Major events can't wait for the quarter: within four business days a company must file an 8-K for things like an acquisition, a chief executive leaving, a bankruptcy or the earnings release itself (Item 2.02). A run of 8-Ks is a cue to look at what changed.

Each stock page has a Company filings card: the company's recent filings, linked to the SEC's own copies, and, from the newest annual report, what the company does and the risks it names, summarized by AI. The summary says which report it came from and links to it. It is a fast first read; AI can get details wrong, so check anything you would act on against the report itself.