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Company Research

Annual Reports

What is an Annual Report?

An annual report is a document that public companies must provide annually to shareholders that describes their operations and financial conditions. In addition, public companies must file annual financial reports to the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Private companies are not required to file annual financial reports to the SEC (form 10-K) and therefore their annual reports are not typically made publicly accessible.


What's in an Annual Report?

A company's annual report to stockholders is mainly a public relations tool. A key portion is the President's Letter which will highlight major events and strategies of the past year. Many companies will append their SEC Form 10-K report to the letter to form the annual report.


How to Find Annual Reports?

SEC Filings

What are SEC Filings?

Companies must file regular reports with the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) to sell shares on major stock exchanges.  These reports include detailed descriptive information on products, organization, distribution and risk factors, as well as financial statements.  

The key SEC filings to review are:

  • 10K annual form for operations insight (business description--distribution channels, competition, risk factors & more--and management discussion) as well as financials.
  • 10Q quarterly report
  • S-1 initial registration filing for IPOs & new registrants - article on how to read an S1 Statement
  • 20-F reports for non-US companies

Canadian company filings are often referred to SEDAR, the Canadian equivalent of EDGAR.


How to Find SEC Filings?
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