Jun 6, 2026· sec · fundamentals

How to read a 10-Q

A 10-Q is a company's quarterly report. Here's what's in it, how it differs from the annual 10-K, and how to read the numbers without a data terminal.

A 10-Q is the report a US-listed company files with the SEC after each of its first three fiscal quarters. It's the quarterly companion to the annual 10-K, and it's where you go to see how a business is tracking between annual reports — revenue, earnings and cash flow for the most recent three months, while they're still fresh.

How a 10-Q differs from a 10-K

The 10-K is the annual report: comprehensive, audited, and filed within 60 to 90 days of the fiscal year end. The 10-Q is lighter — condensed financial statements that are reviewed but not fully audited, filed within about 40 days of quarter close. You get the numbers sooner, but with less detail and without the auditor's full sign-off.

The other key difference: companies file a 10-Q for Q1, Q2 and Q3 only — never for Q4. The fourth quarter is folded into the annual 10-K instead, which is why a clean four-quarter series takes a little arithmetic. See how to find a company's quarterly revenue in SEC filings for why Q4 is always the missing piece and how to back it out.

What's inside

A 10-Q has two halves. Part I is the financials: condensed income statement, balance sheet and cash flow statement, plus the notes. Part II covers everything else — legal proceedings, updates to the risk factors first laid out in the 10-K, and any material changes since the annual report. For most readers Part I is the substance; Part II is where you check whether anything has materially changed.

Reading it without opening the filing

You don't have to open each 10-Q and read the statements by hand. Finterm is a free SEC EDGAR viewer that pulls the structured data behind every 10-Q and 10-K and lays it out quarter by quarter — revenue, net income, EPS and cash flow side by side — so the trend across filings is visible without a spreadsheet. If you're new to the filings themselves, start with how to read a 10-K for free.

info10-Q numbers are unaudited. They're reviewed by the auditor but not given the full audit opinion a 10-K gets, so the occasional figure is restated when the annual report lands. For quarter-to-quarter trends that's rarely an issue, but it's worth knowing before you build a thesis on a single quarter.