Investing in US markets

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26. EDGAR

In the UK, the returns that companies have to file each year to Companies House can be ordered online, but a charge is made.

In the US, by contrast, listed companies file a variety of returns each year electronically to the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC), the US stock market regulator. These are made available free to all-comers on the web via the EDGAR site. EDGAR stands for Electronic Data Gathering of Annual Returns.

The web address of the EDGAR is www.sec.gov/edgarhp.htm. Several commercial services offer a user-friendlier version of the service. These include Edgar Online (www.edgar-online.com) and 10K Wizard (www.10kwizard.com).

The 10K in the last web address refers to the code letters for one of the regular forms of return that companies and other interested parties have to make. The most important ones for would-be investors to peruse are:

• 10K - annual return equivalent to an annual report
• 10Q - quarterly financial report
• 11K - details of employee stock purchases
• 13F - quarterly statement of the holdings of large institutional investors
• 13D - filing by an investor with a greater than 5% holding in a company.

You can use the 10K as a substitute for an annual report, and in the same way use the 10Q instead of the quarterly report. SEC filings sometimes contain more detailed information than the company is obliged to announce to shareholders.

Some investors monitor 13D filings to check for the appearance of big and influential investors - like Warren Buffett or George Soros - on the share registers of companies they are interested in. Some sites allow for automatic email alert when a new 13D filing is made for a specific company.

These are all useful tools that can be used by any investor, whether in the US or elsewhere.

1. Diversification 2. Opportunity 3. Special features of the US market 4. You are already investing abroad! 5. Opening an account to deal in US securities 6. Inputting orders 7. Cash management 8. Currency factors 9. Tax 10. Trading on margin 11. Short selling 12. Types of investment - introduction 13. Shares (common stocks) 14. Indices 15. Bonds 16. Offshore mutual funds 17. Exchange-traded funds 18. ADRs 19. Options 20. Researching US companies - the basics 21. National newspapers 22. Regional newspapers and specialist magazines 23. Business TV 24. Company annual reports 25. Corporate web sites 26. EDGAR 27. Financial portals 28. Broker research 29. Charts 30. Conclusion

• Investing in Latin America