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Understanding SEC Filings

Introduction

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) requires public companies, investment funds, and certain individuals to submit various regulatory filings. These documents provide transparency into financial performance, significant events, insider activities, and investment decisions. The SEC's Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis, and Retrieval system (EDGAR) makes these filings publicly available.

This guide explains the key SEC filing types, their purposes, and how to access and analyze them using the edgartools library.

Why SEC Filings Matter

SEC filings are the most authoritative source of company information available to the public. Unlike press releases, investor presentations, or news articles, SEC filings:

  • Are legally required to be accurate and complete
  • Follow standardized formats for consistency
  • Contain detailed financial data and disclosures
  • Are subject to strict liability for false or misleading information
  • Provide a historical record of a company's development

Common SEC Filing Types

Company Reporting Forms

Form Description Frequency Key Information
10-K Annual report Annual Comprehensive financial statements, business description, risk factors, management discussion
10-Q Quarterly report Quarterly Interim financial statements, updates since last 10-K
8-K Current report As needed Material events (acquisitions, executive changes, bankruptcy)
S-1 Registration statement Before IPO Business model, financials, risk factors, use of proceeds
DEF 14A Proxy statement Annual Executive compensation, board members, shareholder proposals

Ownership and Investment Forms

Form Description Filed By Key Information
Form 3 Initial ownership Insiders Initial positions when becoming an insider
Form 4 Changes in ownership Insiders Purchases, sales, and other transactions
Form 5 Annual ownership Insiders Summary of transactions for the year
13F Holdings report Investment funds Portfolio holdings of investment managers
13D/G Beneficial ownership 5%+ shareholders Significant ownership positions and intentions

Anatomy of Key Filings

10-K Annual Report

The 10-K is the most comprehensive filing and typically contains:

  1. Business Overview (Part I, Item 1)
  2. Company operations, products/services, markets
  3. Revenue breakdown by segment

  4. Competitive landscape

  5. Risk Factors (Part I, Item 1A)

  6. Detailed disclosure of business risks

  7. Industry, operational, and financial risks

  8. Management's Discussion & Analysis (Part II, Item 7)

  9. Analysis of financial condition and results
  10. Liquidity and capital resources

  11. Critical accounting policies

  12. Financial Statements (Part II, Item 8)

  13. Balance sheet
  14. Income statement
  15. Cash flow statement
  16. Statement of shareholders' equity

  17. Notes to financial statements

  18. Controls and Procedures (Part II, Item 9)

  19. Disclosure controls
  20. Internal control over financial reporting

10-Q Quarterly Report

The 10-Q is a condensed version of the 10-K filed quarterly, containing:

  • Unaudited financial statements
  • Management's discussion of results
  • Updates on risk factors
  • Disclosure of material events

8-K Current Report

The 8-K reports significant events that occur between 10-K and 10-Q filings:

  • Item 1.01: Entry into a Material Agreement
  • Item 2.01: Completion of Acquisition or Disposition
  • Item 5.02: Departure/Election of Directors or Officers
  • Item 7.01: Regulation FD Disclosure
  • Item 8.01: Other Events

Form 4 (Insider Transactions)

Form 4 discloses transactions by company insiders (directors, officers, 10%+ shareholders):

  • Transaction date and type (purchase, sale, grant, exercise)
  • Number of securities involved
  • Price per share
  • Resulting ownership after transaction

13F (Investment Fund Holdings)

13F reports show investment portfolios of funds managing over $100 million:

  • Securities held at quarter-end
  • Number of shares
  • Market value
  • Investment discretion

Working with SEC Filings in edgartools

Accessing Filings

from edgar import Company, Filings

# Get all filings for a specific company
apple = Company("AAPL")
filings = apple.get_filings()

# Filter by form type
annual_reports = filings.filter(form="10-K")
quarterly_reports = filings.filter(form="10-Q")
current_reports = filings.filter(form="8-K")

# Get the most recent annual report
latest_10k = annual_reports.latest()

# Search across multiple companies
tech_filings = Filings.search(
    companies=["AAPL", "MSFT", "GOOGL"],
    form="8-K",
    start_date="2023-01-01",
    end_date="2023-12-31"
)

Extracting Financial Data

# Get financial statements from a 10-K
filing = annual_reports.latest()
financials = filing.get_financials()

# Access specific statements
balance_sheet = financials.get_balance_sheet()
income_stmt = financials.get_income_statement()
cash_flow = financials.get_cash_flow_statement()

# Query specific financial items
revenue = income_stmt.get_value("Revenues")
net_income = income_stmt.get_value("NetIncomeLoss")
total_assets = balance_sheet.get_value("Assets")

Analyzing Insider Trading

from edgar import Company

# Get insider transactions
tesla = Company("TSLA")
insider_filings = tesla.get_insider_transactions(start_date="2023-01-01")

# Analyze transactions by insider
for filing in insider_filings:
    print(f"Insider: {filing.reporting_owner}")
    print(f"Transaction: {filing.transaction_type}")
    print(f"Shares: {filing.shares}")
    print(f"Value: ${filing.value:,.2f}")
    print(f"Date: {filing.transaction_date}")

Researching Investment Funds

from edgar import Fund

# Get fund holdings
blackrock = Fund("BlackRock")
holdings = blackrock.get_holdings()

# Analyze portfolio
for holding in holdings.top(10):
    print(f"Company: {holding.company_name}")
    print(f"Ticker: {holding.ticker}")
    print(f"Shares: {holding.shares:,}")
    print(f"Value: ${holding.value:,.2f}")
    print(f"% of Portfolio: {holding.portfolio_percent:.2f}%")

Best Practices for Working with SEC Filings

1. Understand Filing Timelines

  • 10-K: Due 60-90 days after fiscal year-end (depending on company size)
  • 10-Q: Due 40-45 days after quarter-end
  • 8-K: Due within 4 business days of the event
  • Form 4: Due within 2 business days of the transaction
  • 13F: Due within 45 days of quarter-end

2. Be Aware of Filing Amendments

Amendments are indicated with a suffix: - 10-K/A, 10-Q/A, 8-K/A, etc.

# Get original and amended filings
filings = company.get_filings(form="10-K")
amendments = filings.filter(form="10-K/A")

3. Handle Historical Data Carefully

  • Financial restatements can change historical data
  • Company structures change over time (mergers, spin-offs)
  • Accounting standards evolve

4. Respect SEC Access Guidelines

The SEC has rate limits for EDGAR access: - Identify yourself properly with edgar.set_identity() - Implement appropriate delays between requests - Consider using local caching for repeated access

from edgar import set_identity, enable_cache

# Set your identity for SEC access
set_identity("your.email@example.com")

Conclusion

SEC filings provide a wealth of structured and unstructured data for financial analysis, investment research, and regulatory compliance. With edgartools, you can efficiently access, parse, and analyze these filings to extract valuable insights.

Understanding the different filing types, their purposes, and how to work with them programmatically allows you to build sophisticated financial analysis workflows and make more informed investment decisions.

Additional Resources