Annual Report

An annual report is the document in which a listed company discloses its year's business and financial position. Producing it is a legal requirement, and anyone can read it free.

It covers the business overview, financial statements, risk factors, major contracts, officers and shareholder composition — the most comprehensive official source on a company.

What distinguishes it from news coverage is legal liability. Stating something false carries sanctions, which gives it a different level of reliability from articles distorted in transmission.

You need not read all of it. Revenue by business segment, the risk factors, and several years of financial statements are enough to outline the company.

The risk factors section is especially useful. It collects the weaknesses the company has disclosed itself — material that never appears in promotional material. Comparing several years side by side and tracking how the same items changed is better still. One year alone shows no trend.