Annual Report

An Annual Report is similar to, but not to be confused with the 10-K. An annual report is published at the end of each fiscal year by publicly-traded shareholder owned corporations. It contains analysis of the company’s current financial condition as well as guidance for future periods by management in the front and financial statements in the back. It is one of the best ways for investors to understand the operations and financial condition of a publicly traded company.

Peter Lynch quips in his famous book “One Up on Wall Street” that the more expensive the paper in an annual report is, the less informative it is, with the glossy images in the front being relatively irrelevant and the unseeming numbers at the back being crucial to investors.