🎯 In 30 seconds: Every US public company has to file its numbers and its big news with the SEC, and anyone can read them free on EDGAR. The 10-K is the yearly deep dive, the 10-Q is the quarterly update, the 8-K is the "something just happened" notice, and the proxy statement shows who runs the company and how they are paid. You do not need to read all of it. Learn the handful of sections that answer real questions, read them in a fixed order, and you will know more about a stock than most people who trade it.
Why go to the filing instead of the headline
A news story about a company is someone else's summary of a document. The document itself is the filing: a report the company is legally required to submit to the SEC. If the filing is wrong or misleading, the company and its officers can be held responsible. A post on social media carries no such duty.
This chapter is the hands-on follow-up to two earlier ones. Where to get reliable market information lists the main forms, and Qualitative analysis walks through the 10-K risk sections. Here you will learn how to move around EDGAR, what to read in each filing and in what order, and how to catch two things headlines often miss: new shares and bad surprises tucked into an 8-K.
The filing calendar of a public company
Filings arrive on a rhythm. Once you know the rhythm, you know when new facts are due.
- 10-K (annual report). Audited financial statements plus the business description, risk factors and management's discussion. Under the SEC's current rules, the largest companies (large accelerated filers) have 60 days after their fiscal year ends, mid-sized accelerated filers 75 days, and everyone else 90 days.
- 10-Q (quarterly report). Filed for each of the first three fiscal quarters. The statements are reviewed by the auditor but not audited. The deadline is 40 days after the quarter for the two larger groups and 45 days for the rest.
- 8-K (current report). Filed when a listed event happens. Companies generally have four business days.
- Proxy statement (form type DEF 14A). Sent before the annual shareholder meeting, usually once a year.
Two proposals could change this calendar. In May 2026 the SEC proposed letting companies choose a semiannual report on a new Form 10-S instead of quarterly 10-Qs, and separately proposed reshaping the filer categories that set these deadlines. As of late October 2026 both were still proposals. If you read this later, check whether they were adopted, because a company that switches to semiannual reporting will give you fresh numbers half as often.
Getting around EDGAR in five minutes
- Go to SEC EDGAR and type the company name or ticker into the company search box. You land on the company's filing page.
- Use the filter to narrow by form type. Type 10-K, 10-Q, 8-K or DEF 14A.
- Click a filing to open its filing index. This lists the main document plus exhibits (attached documents such as contracts, the earnings press release, or the list of subsidiaries).
- Open the main document. Long filings have a clickable table of contents near the top. Use your browser's find (Ctrl+F or Cmd+F) for words like "going concern", "material weakness", "customer", "dilution" or "covenant".
- For questions across many companies or years, use EDGAR full-text search, which covers filings back to 2001. Searching a phrase in quotes shows every filing that uses it.
A filer is identified by a number called a CIK. You do not need it, but it is handy when two companies have similar names.
What to read first in a 10-K and a 10-Q
A 10-K can run past 100 pages. You will get most of the value from five places, read in this order:
| Order | Where | The question it answers |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cover page | How many shares exist right now? The count is printed near the front, as of a recent date. |
| 2 | Item 1, Business | What does the company sell, to whom, and who else sells it? |
| 3 | Item 7, MD&A | In management's own words, why did results change, and how much cash and borrowing room is left? |
| 4 | Item 8, the statements and notes | Do the numbers agree with the story? The notes on debt, revenue and stock pay are where surprises hide. |
| 5 | Item 1A, Risk Factors | What does the company itself say could go wrong? Compare with last year's list. |
A 10-Q is shorter and follows the same idea in two parts. Part I holds the quarter's financial statements and MD&A. Part II covers legal proceedings, changes to risk factors, and sales of unregistered shares. If Part II says "there have been no material changes" to risk factors, that is a useful fact too.
The habit that pays off most: read the same section across several periods. One quarter is a snapshot. Four quarters side by side show a direction. The three financial statements shows how the statements tie together.
That chart is a classic thing to check in a 10-Q. Receivables are sales the company has booked but not yet been paid for. A quick gauge is days sales outstanding (DSO): receivables / quarterly revenue x 91 days. For Company X it went from $25M / $100M x 91 = about 23 days to $40M / $112M x 91 = about 33 days. Customers now take ten days longer to pay. Maybe a big new customer got generous terms, maybe sales were pulled forward. MD&A is where management should explain it. If it does not, that silence is information.
8-Ks: the item numbers that matter
Every 8-K is labeled with one or more item numbers, which tell you what kind of event it is before you read a word. A few deserve your attention every time:
| Item | Event | Why a trader cares |
|---|---|---|
| 1.01 | Entry into a material definitive agreement | A big contract, loan or merger agreement |
| 1.03 | Bankruptcy or receivership | Shareholders are usually last in line |
| 1.05 | Material cybersecurity incident | A breach big enough that the company had to disclose it |
| 2.02 | Results of operations | The earnings release |
| 3.01 | Notice of delisting or failure to meet a listing rule | The exchange may remove the stock; often comes before a reverse split |
| 3.02 | Unregistered sales of equity | New shares sold privately: dilution |
| 4.01 | Change in the auditor | Read why. A disagreement with the old auditor is a warning |
| 4.02 | Non-reliance on earlier financial statements | Past numbers were wrong and will be restated |
| 5.02 | Departure or appointment of directors and officers | A sudden finance chief exit deserves a closer look |
Items 4.01 and 4.02 together are among the most serious combinations you can see. A company that changes auditors and then says its old numbers cannot be relied on is telling you the foundation of every ratio you computed is cracked.
The proxy statement: who is in charge and how they get paid
The proxy statement exists so shareholders can vote at the annual meeting. For you it answers three questions:
- How is the boss paid? The summary compensation table shows salary, bonus, stock awards and options for the top executives. Read what the bonus is tied to. Pay linked to revenue growth alone can reward growth bought at any cost. Pay linked to returns on capital or free cash flow lines up better with owners.
- Who owns what? A table lists how many shares each director, top officer and 5% holder owns. Insiders with a large personal stake feel losses the way you do.
- Who is related to whom? The related-party transactions section shows deals between the company and its insiders or their families, such as renting a building from the CEO.
Also note the votes being asked for, including the advisory "say on pay" vote and any request to authorize more shares. A request to increase authorized shares sharply is a hint that new issuance could be coming.
Worked example: the dilution check
Dilution means new shares are created, so each existing share owns a smaller slice. Companies that need cash often register shares in advance on a shelf registration (often Form S-3) and then sell them gradually through an at-the-market (ATM) program, feeding shares into the market at whatever the price is. The individual sales show up later, in the share count and in prospectus supplements filed under form type 424B.
Here is how to size the risk for a hypothetical small company, Company Y:
| Shares outstanding (10-Q cover page) | 50 million |
| Share price | $8.00 |
| Market value | $400 million |
| ATM program announced in a 424B filing | up to $100 million |
| New shares if all of it is sold at $8.00 ($100M / $8) | 12.5 million |
| Dilution (12.5M / 50M) | 25% more shares |
| If the price falls to $5.00 first ($100M / $5) | 20 million new shares, 40% more |
The last line is the trap. The lower the price goes, the more shares an ATM needs to raise the same money, and that extra supply can push the price down further. Your slice of future profit shrinks either way. Compare the cover-page share count across the last four 10-Qs: if it climbs every quarter, the company is funding itself with your ownership.
Try it
Pick one company from your Watchlist and spend 30 minutes on EDGAR:
- Write down the shares outstanding from the cover of each of its last four 10-Qs or 10-Ks. Did the count rise, fall or stay flat?
- Compute DSO for the last two quarters from the balance sheet and income statement. Did it move by more than a few days? Find the sentence in MD&A that explains why.
- Filter its 8-Ks for the past year. List the item numbers. Were any of them 3.01, 3.02, 4.01, 4.02 or 5.02?
- Open the latest proxy and find what the CEO's bonus is tied to.
Keep your notes. When the next 10-Q lands, repeat steps 1 and 2 and see whether the story changed. Use the earnings calendar to know when it is due.
- Which filing would you open first to see a company's earnings release on the day it comes out? Answer: The 8-K filed under Item 2.02, with the release attached as an exhibit (usually 99.1).
- Revenue rose 5% but receivables rose 30%. What does that suggest? Answer: Customers are taking longer to pay, so days sales outstanding went up. Look for the explanation in MD&A.
- A company has 40 million shares and an ATM program for $60 million. The stock is at $6. How much dilution is possible? Answer: $60M / $6 = 10 million shares, 25% more, and more if the price falls.
- Why is an 8-K with Item 4.02 serious? Answer: The company is saying earlier financial statements should no longer be relied on, so past numbers will be restated.