How to Read a 10-Q and 10-K: Five Sections First

What to read first in a 10-Q or 10-K

A 10-Q or 10-K from a small company can run past 100 pages. Most of it is boilerplate. If your question is "how long can this company fund itself, and how many shares could it add?", five sections answer most of it:

1. Liquidity and capital resources (inside MD&A)
2. The going concern note
3. Subsequent events
4. The equity note (stockholders' equity)
5. Risk factors

Read them in roughly that order, and check the cover page share count before you start.

10-Q and 10-K deadlines by filer status

How fast a report arrives depends on the company's filer status, set mostly by public float measured on the last business day of the second fiscal quarter.

Days are calendar days after the fiscal period ends. Since 2020, a smaller reporting company with annual revenue under $100 million is generally not an accelerated filer even if its float exceeds $75 million, so many small caps file on the non-accelerated schedule.

A company that cannot file on time can file Form 12b-25 (on EDGAR, NT 10-K or NT 10-Q). If it then files within the grace period (15 calendar days for a 10-K, 5 calendar days for a 10-Q), the report is treated as timely.

Liquidity and capital resources

This subsection of Management's Discussion and Analysis (Item 7 of a 10-K, Part I Item 2 of a 10-Q, required by Item 303 of Regulation S-K) is where management describes cash, cash needs and how it plans to fund them. Look for three things:

• The cash balance and operating cash flow. The statement of cash flows gives "net cash used in operating activities" for the period.
• Management's own runway sentence. Phrases like "sufficient to fund operations into the second quarter of next year".
• Named funding sources. An ATM program (see how ATM offerings work), an equity line, a credit facility, or a pending offering.

That arithmetic is a starting point, not a forecast. Burn rates change, and the report itself often discloses raises completed after quarter end.

The going concern note

Under ASC 205-40, management must evaluate whether there is substantial doubt about the company's ability to continue as a going concern within one year after the date the financial statements are issued (going concern warnings explained). If there is, it must say so in a note, usually titled "Going Concern" or "Liquidity and Going Concern", and describe its plans.

Read the note for two details:

• Whether doubt is "alleviated" or not. Management can conclude that its plans alleviate the doubt (still disclosed) or that substantial doubt remains.
• What the plans are. Almost always "raise additional capital through equity or debt financings", sometimes with specifics.

In a 10-K, also read the auditor's report. Under PCAOB standards, the auditor adds an explanatory paragraph when it concludes substantial doubt exists.

Subsequent events

The subsequent events note (ASC 855) covers what happened between the balance sheet date and the date the statements were issued. For a small cap, that window often contains the most recent financing.

A typical note might read: after quarter end the company sold 4,000,000 shares under its ATM for net proceeds of $3,100,000, issued 1,500,000 shares on conversion of notes, and amended a warrant's exercise price. None of that is in the balance sheet you just read. Compare it with the 8-Ks filed in the same window; not every subsequent event gets its own 8-K.

The equity note

The stockholders' equity note (sometimes split into separate notes for warrants, stock options and preferred stock) lists the securities that can turn into common shares. It usually includes a warrant table like this:

All figures are hypothetical.

Against 40,000,000 shares outstanding, these warrants could add 16.4% to the share count (6,550,000 ÷ 40,000,000). The pre-funded tranche is effectively already shares, since its exercise price is close to zero. This is the raw material of warrant overhang, and the warrant overhang guide shows how to total it. Also read the note for reset or down-round provisions, which can change the exercise price and sometimes the number of shares.

Risk factors

Item 1A risk factors in a 10-K are long and mostly generic. Two habits make them useful:

• Read the first few and anything specific. Companies tend to lead with what they consider most material: listing compliance, need for capital, concentration in one product.
• Compare with last year. New or rewritten risk factors are more informative than the stable ones. A new paragraph about a Nasdaq deficiency notice, or a lender's conversion rights, is a change worth noticing.

Smaller reporting companies may omit the 10-Q risk factor update under the form's instructions, so the 10-K is usually the place to read them.

How to check a company on Signal8

• A company's financials tab shows reported figures across periods, and its filings tab links each 10-Q and 10-K.
• The must-raise screener lets you compare companies on estimated cash runway, an estimate built from reported burn rate.
• Watch new periodic reports arrive on the live SEC filings feed.

FAQ