Research Guide
How to Research Like a Wall Street Analyst: the free guide
Plain-English lessons on finding original sources, reading filings and economic data, and building your own investment insights.
- How to research a stock: a step-by-step methodSkip the hot takes. Start with a precise question, go to the original documents, and do the arithmetic yourself.
- How to read a 10-K without getting lostAn annual report can run past a hundred pages. You do not need to read it front to back to get what matters.
- How to use SEC EDGAR to find any company filingEDGAR is the SEC's free database of company filings. Learning to use it is the single fastest upgrade to your research.
- Where to find economic data: the free official sourcesInflation, jobs, spending, rates and energy all come from a handful of agencies. Go to them directly instead of a screenshot of a chart.
- How to analyze economic trends with free dataIs growth speeding up or slowing down? Is inflation heating or cooling? A few transparent calculations answer better than any headline.
- How to read an earnings report, with a worked exampleRevenue went up. Good news? Not necessarily. Here is how to read past the headline number.
- How to build an investment thesis you can actually testA thesis is not a feeling about a stock. It is a specific claim with evidence, a timeline and a condition that would prove it wrong.
- The COT report explained: how to read futures positioningThe Commitments of Traders report shows who holds futures positions. Used carefully, it adds context. Used carelessly, it becomes a story machine.
Educational material from The Company Chronicle, not individualized investment advice. Investing involves risk, including loss of principal.