To read a company earnings report, start with the Form 8-K press release for the headline revenue and earnings per share, then open the quarterly 10-Q or annual 10-K on the SEC's EDGAR database for the audited detail and management's own explanation. The numbers that move a stock are usually the surprise against expectations and the forward guidance, not the quarter itself.

Three documents, three jobs

A quarterly report is not one file. When a company announces results, it files a Form 8-K, the current report, flagged under Item 2.02, Results of Operations and Financial Condition. That carries the press release and the top-line numbers that hit the wire. Netflix, for example, filed its third-quarter 2026 earnings 8-K on October 20, 2026, and its full Form 10-Q the next day, October 21, both visible on EDGAR.

The 10-Q is the quarterly report, with condensed, unaudited financial statements and management's discussion. Once a year the 10-K replaces it: the annual report, with audited statements. As the SEC's own investor bulletin puts it, "Among other things, the 10-K offers a detailed picture of a company's business, the risks it faces, and the operating and financial results for the fiscal year." SEC rules require that 10-Ks follow a set order of topics, and every filing is public on EDGAR.

Start with the top line, then read past it

The press release leads with revenue and net income, or earnings per share. Those matter, but the market has usually already priced in an expectation. What moves the stock is the gap between the reported number and the consensus estimate, the beat or the miss, and even more, the guidance: what management says about the quarter or year ahead. A strong quarter paired with cautious guidance can push a stock lower on the day; a soft quarter with raised guidance can lift it. The report is backward-looking; the reaction is usually about the outlook. Those expectations exist because analysts publish estimates ahead of the release, and the share price already reflects them, so the news is the difference, not the level.

MD&A: where management explains itself

The section worth your time is Management's Discussion and Analysis, the MD&A. This is where the company explains, in its own words, what drove the numbers: why revenue rose or fell, what happened to margins, what it expects. Read it against the press release's framing. The release is written to flatter; the MD&A and the financial statements are where the SEC requires fuller disclosure, and where the Sarbanes-Oxley Act requires the chief executive and chief financial officer to certify the filing's accuracy.

Three statements, not one

The financial statements come in three parts, and the headline rarely tells you which one is doing the work. The income statement shows revenue and profit. The balance sheet shows what the company owns and owes. The cash flow statement shows the cash that actually moved, which can diverge sharply from reported profit. A company can book accounting profit while burning cash, or the reverse, so reading all three together is the difference between the story and the spin.

Risk factors and the notes

Two more sections reward a closer read. Risk factors, Item 1A in a 10-K, list what could go wrong in legally careful language, and changes from the prior filing can be telling. The notes to the financial statements carry the detail the headline hides: how revenue is recognized, what debt is coming due, legal contingencies, and the breakdown by business segment. A number in a table is only as good as the note that defines it.

Audited, adjusted, and other traps

The annual 10-K statements are audited; the quarterly 10-Q statements are condensed and unaudited. Watch, too, for non-GAAP or adjusted figures. Companies may present adjusted earnings that add back real costs, and those can flatter the picture against the official GAAP numbers. Compare like with like, GAAP to GAAP, and year over year rather than quarter to quarter where the business is seasonal.

Where to find all of it

Everything is free on EDGAR, the SEC's filing database. Search the company, filter by form type, 8-K, 10-Q or 10-K, and read the primary document rather than someone's summary of it. EDGAR's full-text search also lets you hunt a phrase across filings, which is how you find, say, every mention of a lawsuit or a segment. Reading the source takes longer than a headline, but it is the only version no one has spun for you. The group's write-up of Netflix's third-quarter results shows how the same filings read in practice, and the explainer on how an IPO works covers where a company's first public filings come from.

The call and the letter

The filings are not the only source. Most companies hold an earnings call the same day, and the transcript, along with any shareholder letter, carries management's tone and the analyst questions the press release leaves out. Those are not SEC filings, so weigh them as the company's own framing rather than audited fact. The audited numbers sit in the statements; the colour is on the call.

What to watch

Read the 8-K for the number, the MD&A for the story, and the notes for the detail. The single most useful habit is to compare the result against what the market expected and to weigh the guidance, not just the quarter that was reported. The report tells you what happened. It does not tell you what to buy.