The annual report is not a required SEC filing but is used by corporations to communicate directly with their shareholders.
Annual reports feature the CEO's Letter to the Shareholders. They often include financial highlights, management biographies, product profiles, information on corporate philanthrophy and community programs, and career opportunities.
Annual reports often look like marketing brochures with many graphs, charts and photos.
Check the Investor Relations pages of the company's website for the annual report or use one of these databases:
Most publicly-traded companies make copies of their filings with the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) available on their investor relations pages on their web sites.
Also, the SEC maintains a site, Edgar, in which current filings and those going back four years may be searched by keyword(s), are available for free. Electronic filings start in 1984.
Among the sections of the 10-k filings that might be of particular interest in analyzing a company are the Risk Factors and also the Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.
Additionally, the Newman Library subscribes to some databases which offer advanced search features for searching SEC filings and comparing companies.
These sites are:
Capital and operational histories on over 10,000 U.S. public companies and 17,000 non-U.S. public companies. Details property, subsidiaries, executives, equity, debt, financial statements, and ratio analysis. Supply Chain tab, formerly Mergent Horizon, details company relationships: competitors, suppliers, partners, corporate customers, and interrelationships of product and services.
Available through the Subotnick Center and on 12 workstations in the library.
Available through the Newman Library's databases, and available off-campus, provides SEC filings and other company information.
Users must create their own accounts.
Companies also make their SEC filings available on their investor relations' pages.
