What are the differences between annual report and 10K. Which one is better for an investor? Help, please!!!!!

Some got it right, others didn't. The 10K and the annual report are two different documents with different information.

10k is the detailed annual report that is filed with the SEC. It is a requirement for the SEC. You currently see lots of stocks being affected by companies delaying their filing of their 10K's, especially in light of the backdating of options issue. As an equity investor, this is important to know!

The annual report is for stockholders and for accounting students and wall street pundits. As such, a company can spin things a bit more than they can in the 10K. Outside of the income statement, balance sheets, and a few other accounting disclosures, companies have a bit more flexibility to include what they wish.

In general, there'll be more info in the 10K, but you can do just fine if you know how to analyze an annual report.

That said, you don't really even need all that (either one!).

There are so many websites and services now that will extract the "key" information for you and help you analyze the "fundamentals" of a company (not like the old days when you had to dig for this stuff), that it's made the old way of research almost obsolete.

You can get a lot of good information on fundamentals from sites such as:

http://finance.google.com (no www)
http://finance.yahoo.com (no www)
http://www.investor.reuters.com
http://www.earningswhispers.com (earnings outlook and history)


Some like investorsbusiness daily not only has fundamental analysis, but helps rate the stocks too!

www.investors.com

There are more, but these sites should provide you pretty much everything you need.

If you have any other questions, let me know!

A 10K? What are you talking about? Do you mean a 401K Plan?

10k is the detailed annual report that is filed with the SEC.
The Annual Report to Shareholders is the glossy propaganda they send out yearly to people that own the stock.
The 10k will be much more compete and detailed.

There is no form 8d

I suppose is Form 10K? It is a report required by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) each year that is a comprehensive summary of a company's performance.
(Includes information such as company history, organizational structure, executive compensation, equity, subsidiaries, and audited financial statements, among other information.)

It is different from the "annual report to shareholders", which a company must send to its shareholders when it holds an annual meeting to elect directors.

Get it? One is for shareholder one is for the SEC.

Study both if you want to be a smart investor. :) Its due dilligence!

In short, it's the same thing. 10K is short for annual report.
10Q - quarterly report
8D - filed when there major chage in the firm - e.g reorganization.