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How to Read an 8-K Earnings Filing

An 8-K is the SEC form public U.S. companies use to disclose material events between their regular quarterly reports. When the event is the release of quarterly results, the filing arrives wrapped in a specific structure that, once you learn it, takes under thirty seconds to parse.

The cover page

Every 8-K starts with a one-page cover that names the company, the trading symbol, the exchange, the date of the triggering event, and — most importantly — the list of Items disclosed. Items are numbered categories defined by the SEC. There are about forty of them, covering everything from acquisitions (Item 2.01) to officer departures (Item 5.02) to regulation FD disclosures (Item 7.01).

The item that matters for earnings is Item 2.02 — Results of Operations and Financial Condition. If you see Item 2.02 on the cover, this 8-K is reporting earnings. If you don't see it, the filing is about something else and you can skip it for earnings-watching purposes.

The Item 2.02 paragraph

Inside the body of the filing, the Item 2.02 section is almost always one short paragraph. It will say something like: "On May 13, 2026, Company X issued a press release announcing its financial results for the quarter ended March 31, 2026. A copy of the press release is attached hereto as Exhibit 99.1 and is incorporated herein by reference."

That sentence is the legal mechanism — the company is saying "the actual numbers are in the exhibit." This is why every reliable earnings parser, including EarningsTape, fetches the exhibit rather than the 8-K cover itself.

Exhibit 99.x — where the numbers live

The naming convention is EX-99.1 for the primary earnings press release. Some companies attach additional exhibits — EX-99.2 for slide decks, EX-99.3 for supplemental tables. The headline EPS and revenue are almost always in EX-99.1.

Inside the press release, scan in this order:

• The top of the document. The first three paragraphs nearly always contain the headline figures: total revenue (and year-over-year growth), GAAP EPS, and adjusted/non-GAAP EPS.
• The financial summary table. Usually titled "Financial Highlights" or "Summary of Results," this is a clean tabular view of revenue, gross margin, operating income, net income, and EPS for the current quarter, the same quarter last year, and often year-to-date totals.
• Segment results. For diversified companies (Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet), the most interesting story is often inside the segment table — which business line grew, which shrank, and by how much.
• Forward guidance. Look for a section titled "Outlook" or "Q2 Guidance." This is the company's projection for the next quarter and is often the single most market-moving piece of information in the entire release.

GAAP vs. non-GAAP

Every press release will report two EPS figures: the GAAP number (calculated under standard accounting rules) and a non-GAAP or "adjusted" number (with certain items — usually stock-based compensation, amortization of intangibles, restructuring charges — excluded). The non-GAAP figure is almost always higher, and management almost always leads with it because it shows the business in a better light.

Analyst consensus estimates are almost always based on non-GAAP numbers, so when a headline says "Company X beat by $0.03," that comparison is non-GAAP vs. non-GAAP. EarningsTape extracts the diluted EPS figure as reported on the cover; for a full reconciliation, always read the press release directly.

Red flags in the language

The narrative paragraphs of the press release sometimes carry more weight than the numbers themselves. Watch for:

• "Excluding the impact of…" — Companies often pre-frame a weak quarter by stripping out a one-time event.
• "Foreign-currency headwinds" — A common explanation when revenue growth was lower than the constant-currency figure.
• Withdrawn or lowered guidance. When the outlook section is shorter than usual or simply absent, that's a signal in itself.
• CEO quote tone. If the prepared quote pivots quickly to "long-term opportunity" without celebrating the quarter, the quarter was probably weak.

Where to find them

Every 8-K filing in the United States is available for free on SEC EDGAR within seconds of being submitted. EarningsTape watches that feed live, filters for Item 2.02, fetches the EX-99.1 exhibit, and extracts the headline EPS and revenue. Each row on the home page links back to both the 8-K index page and the original press release on sec.gov, so you can always go to the source.

Disclaimer: This post is for educational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice. See our full disclaimer.