Video summary
The Securities and Exchange Commission has established EDGAR as a public platform that enables anyone to access and review filings submitted by publicly traded companies. The most straightforward method to locate information about a specific entity is through the company and person lookup search box, where users can simply type in a name such as Netflix to retrieve a list of all associated documents. These records encompass various types of submissions, including 8-Ks for current events, DEF-14A proxies, 10-K annual reports, and S-13G/D statements, though the 10-K stands out as the most comprehensive document issued by a company within sixty days after the end of its fiscal year.
When navigating to a specific 10-K filing, it is important to distinguish between the main report and the numerous exhibits listed in the table of contents, which can be safely ignored for a general overview. The primary filing provides a detailed description of the company's business operations, its financial status, and significant events from the previous fiscal year. Key sections within this document include Item 1 and 1A, which describe what the company does, its market segments, employee count, and competitors; Item 2, which outlines risk factors that could adversely affect the business, such as industry shifts in streaming demand or internal hiring challenges; and Item 7, known as Management's Discussion and Analysis.
The Management's Discussion and Analysis section is particularly valuable because it offers a narrative summary of the company's financial performance, including profits, revenues, gains, and losses over the last year. For instance, this section might explain why streaming revenue increased from $19.9 billion in 2019 to $24.7 billion in 2020, providing shareholders with insights into how these changes impact their investment. Beyond raw numbers, these filings offer deep context regarding operational strategies and potential threats, making them essential tools for conducting a thorough SWOT analysis or understanding the broader economic landscape affecting a corporation. Ultimately, while there is much to consider in these documents, the 10-K remains the best overall resource for finding detailed and reliable information about a public company's health and trajectory.
Read the full video transcript
So this is Edgar is a website set up by
the Securities and Exchange Commission
that allows the general public to look
at any public company's filings. The
simplest way to search for a company is
we see this search box right here. It
says company and person lookup. We could
type in the name of a company. We'll
type Netflix.
So, here are all of Netflix's
filings.
As you can see, there are various types
of filings. The 8Ks,
these DEFs, which are also known as the
proxies, 10Ks, and SC13Gs,
SC13Ds.
What we're going to be interested today
is the 10K. The 10K is the most
comprehensive filing that a company
issues. it happens within 60 days of the
end of the fiscal year. Um, that's
really dependent on the size of the
company.
Um, but here we see the 10K.
So, I'm going to click filing
and there are a lot of different parts
to the 10K. Um, all these, if you can
see numbers two through
says down to 15 are exhibits. We don't
have to worry about the exhibits. What
we want is this main filing here. You'll
see because it's got the biggest file
size. And we'll go ahead and click that.
Now the 10K gives an overall description
of the company and describes the
financial status of the company, any
significant events of the company within
the previous fiscal year. So you can see
from this star page, it tells you the
name of the company, the trading symbol,
um if there's any other aspects of the
company, whether it's an emerging growth
company. Um we'll see that it has the
number of shares that the company has
outstanding.
Um this part right here, the table of
contents, we'll see that there are a lot
of different um pieces within this
filing. What we're going to look at is
items one 1A and item seven.
These are the business, the risk
factors, and the management's discussion
and analysis. So, the business just
tells you what the company does. We
pretty much all know what Netflix does.
Um but it'll give other insights like
it'll talk about specific segments of
the company, certain geographical
segmentation, the number of employees it
has, who the competition is.
Um the risk factors
will tell you everything that could
potentially affect adversely affect the
company. um whether that is something on
an industry basis. So maybe the
um the demand for streaming video is
uh exceeding Netflix's ability to
produce the video. Um it could be from a
company basis. So maybe the uh amount of
hiring that Netflix is doing has not
been able to keep up with the demand.
um or they've had to lay off people. It
could also be things like legal and
legislative information that could have
an effect on the company. These are
something uh that you would want to put
into if you were creating a SWAT
analysis for the company.
So now we're going to just scroll back
up and look at
um this item seven, management
discussion and analysis of the company.
Now, this is important because it's
basically a summation of
um things like the profit, revenue,
gains, and losses that have happened to
this company over the last fiscal year.
It'll give you, you know, brief
narratives of it, you know, as you can
see down here. And the narrative
discloses
all this stuff that's going on over
here. So
for example, you see that the streaming
revenues increased in 2020
um to 24.7 billion from 2019 of 19.9
billion basically. Um so what they're
going to do is try to give uh reasons
for that and it'll [snorts] explain as a
shareholder
how that might affect you. So, there's a
lot that goes into these filings.
Um, and I encourage you to read it. And
as I said, the 10K is the best overall
filing for finding this type of detailed
information.