Find it in the 10-K

Where each Playbook number lives in a company’s annual report

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A 10-K is the annual report every U.S.-listed company files with the SEC. It is long, but you only need a few parts of it. This page is organized by what your Playbook page asks for, not by the order of the 10-K. Each section ends with the row it produces for your memo’s Data Table.

The examples use a made-up company, “Campus Coffee Co.”, so the numbers never go out of date.

1. Open the latest 10-K on EDGAR

  1. Go to the SEC’s filing search: https://www.sec.gov/search-filings. (For searching inside filings for a word, the SEC also has full-text search: https://www.sec.gov/edgar/search/.)
  2. Type the company name or ticker and choose the company from the list.
  3. On the company page, filter the filings by Form type: 10-K. Pick the most recent one.
  4. Click the filing, then open the main document (usually the first .htm file, described as “10-K”).
  5. Optional: the Interactive Data button opens the financial statements as clean tables you can copy.

Note the fiscal year (FY) on the cover page. A company’s fiscal year does not always end in December.

Data Table row: Fiscal year · FY2025 · 10-K cover page, filed 2026-02-14 (URL) · §2

2. Revenue and cost of revenue

Open Item 8, Financial Statements, and find the income statement (it may be called “Consolidated Statements of Operations” or “of Income”).

  • Revenue is the first line. It may be called “Net sales”, “Total revenues”, or “Net revenues”.
  • Cost of revenue comes next. A retailer calls it “Cost of sales” or “Cost of goods sold”. A service company may call it “Cost of services” or split it into several lines — add them up and say so in your source string.
  • Numbers are usually in millions or in thousands. Check the small print under the table title.

Data Table rows: Revenue · 1,250.0 ($M) · FY2025 10-K, Item 8, Consolidated Statements of Operations, p. 52 · §2 Cost of revenue · 780.0 ($M) · same page · §2

3. Segment revenue and operating income

If your company has several businesses, look in the notes to the financial statements for a note called “Segment information” or “Segment reporting”. It shows revenue (and often operating income) for each business. Use the segment that matches the product you follow — a margin that mixes several products can mislead you (Weeks 4 and 5).

Data Table row: Segment revenue: Beverages · 900.0 ($M) · FY2025 10-K, Note 15 Segment information, p. 88 · §3

4. Clues about fixed and variable costs

The income statement does not label costs as fixed or variable. You classify them yourself (Week 3). Useful places:

  • Item 7, MD&A (Management’s Discussion and Analysis): the paragraphs that explain why each cost line went up or down. “Increased with sales volume” points to variable. “Higher rent”, “new headquarters”, “depreciation” point to fixed.
  • Lines such as SG&A (selling, general and administrative) and D&A (depreciation and amortization).
  • Counts that turn totals into per-unit numbers: stores, routes, subscribers, flights, employees (often in Item 1 or Item 7).

Data Table row: Variable costs (my classification) · 820.0 ($M) · Cost of revenue + 40% of SG&A, see Item 7 p. 41 · §2

5. Closures, impairments, restructuring

For the stay-or-exit question (Playbook P4), search the document for “closure”, “impairment”, “restructuring”, and “exit”. Look in Item 7 and in Item 1. An impairment means the company admitted some assets will not earn back their cost — a sign of a shutdown or exit decision.

Data Table row: Stores closed in FY2025 · 35 · FY2025 10-K, Item 7, Restructuring, p. 39 · §2

6. Competitors and entry

  • Item 1, Business, usually has a part called “Competition”: who the company says it competes with, and on what (price, location, brand).
  • Item 1A, Risk Factors: look for new entrants, price competition, low switching costs, and dependence on a platform. These are the market-power clues for Playbook P5.

Data Table row: Named competitors · 4 · FY2025 10-K, Item 1, Competition, p. 9 · §4

7. Pricing language

Use your browser’s search (Ctrl+F) for “price”, “pricing”, “fee”, “subscription”, “promotion”, “membership”, and “discount”. Write down any tactic the company describes: tiers, memberships, surge or peak pricing, bundles, loyalty discounts. These feed Playbook P6.

Data Table row: Price increase on core plan · +8% · FY2025 10-K, Item 7, Revenue discussion, p. 37 · §3

8. Writing the source string

The rule for every number: a reader must be able to open your source and find the number in under a minute. Include:

  • the document (FY2025 10-K or a full URL),
  • the place (Item 8, Consolidated Statements of Operations),
  • the page number if there is one,
  • and, for a number you computed, the formula and inputs — My Numbers adds these for you.

Good: FY2025 10-K, Item 8, Consolidated Statements of Operations, p. 52 Not enough: 10-K · company website · Google

SEC filings are public documents. This page shows where to look; the numbers in the examples are made up.