primary-source
Read the filing, not the story about it
The rule
Go to the original document. Every retelling adds someone's spin between you and the fact.
Where it flips
An original document is not always clear or complete. A filing can be written to mislead while still following the rules. The fix is to read the source and still ask what it leaves out. Do not treat any single document as the final truth.
The filing, the exchange order, and the call transcript are the facts. The headline about them is just someone's summary. Each retelling drops the boring lines and sharpens the exciting ones. The reader who opens the original document sees what the storyteller chose to leave out.
A worked example
A headline says a company won a big order, and the stock jumps. But the exchange filing itself shows the order is only a letter of intent, spread over five years, with no fixed value. The headline never carried that detail. [illustrative]
How to spot it
- ·a claim with no link to its filing
- ·numbers softened or rounded in the retelling
- ·the exciting line kept, the warning dropped
- ·no call or order text actually quoted
Warren Buffett · Berkshire Hathaway shareholder letters