How to Extract 10-K Risk Factors (Item 1A) Programmatically

Item 1A of a 10-K is the section where a company lists, in its own words, everything it believes could go wrong. For analysts and researchers it is one of the most read parts of the filing, and also one of the longest, often running many pages of legal and operational caveats. This guide covers what the rule actually requires and how to extract just that section instead of the entire document.

What Item 1A has to include

Item 1A, "Risk Factors," is required under Item 105 of Regulation S-K. It requires companies to disclose the material factors that make an investment in the company or offering risky, discussed under subcaptions organized by relevant heading, such as risks tied to the business, the industry, or an offering.

The rule does not require a specific list of risks. Each company decides which factors are material to its own business, which is why risk factor sections vary widely in length and content even between companies in the same industry.

The summary and ordering rules

SEC rule amendments that took effect in 2020 changed two things about how Item 1A has to be organized:

Where else risk factors show up

Form 10-Q also has an Item 1A under Part II, Other Information, but it only requires disclosure of material changes from the risk factors already described in the most recent 10-K, not a restated full list. Smaller reporting companies are not required to include Item 1A in their 10-Q at all.

Registration statements like Form S-1 also include a risk factors section, following the same Item 105 requirements, since it applies to both periodic reports and offering documents.

Extracting the section as text

Instead of downloading the full 10-K and locating Item 1A inside a long HTML document, you can request just that item from the filing's index page:

curl "https://secfeedapi.com/v1/extractor?url=https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1045810/000104581026000078/0001045810-26-000078-index.htm&item=1A&type=text" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY"

The response returns the section as plain text, trimmed to that item:

{
  "cik": "1045810",
  "accessionNo": "0001045810-26-000078",
  "item": "1A",
  "text": "RISK FACTORS\n\nOur business is subject to a number of risks..."
}

In Python:

from secfeed import Client

sf = Client("YOUR_API_KEY")
result = sf.extract(
    url="https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1045810/000104581026000078/0001045810-26-000078-index.htm",
    item="1A",
    type="text",
)
print(result["text"][:500])

The same endpoint pulls other 10-K items by changing the item parameter, and 10-Q and 8-K items using their own numbering:

What to watch for when you parse the text

A few things make risk factor text harder to use directly in analysis:

1. Length varies enormously. A newly public company's S-1 risk factors can run over fifty pages; a mature filer's 10-K might run fewer.
2. Boilerplate repeats across filers. Risks like "we may be unable to maintain our credit ratings" or general macroeconomic risk appear in similar form across many companies, and the generic ones are required to be grouped at the end.
3. Headings are not standardized text. Companies choose their own subheading wording, so grouping risk factors by topic across companies means reading the heading text, not matching on an exact phrase.
4. Year over year changes matter more than the raw text. A new risk factor that appears for the first time, or language that gets notably more specific, is often more informative than the section as a whole.

If you are comparing a company's risk factors across two fiscal years, pull both filings' Item 1A separately and diff the text rather than trying to summarize either one in isolation.

Reading risk factors across many companies

Risk factor text is most useful when you are not just reading one filing but comparing many, or tracking the same company over time. A few patterns show up often in that kind of work:

• New risk factors by year. Pulling Item 1A from consecutive 10-Ks and checking which headings are new is a quick way to see what a company started worrying about that it had not disclosed before, such as a newly named regulatory risk or a supply chain dependency.
• Industry wide language. When a risk, like a specific tariff policy or a type of cyber threat, starts appearing across many companies in the same reporting season, that is a sign the underlying event is industry wide rather than specific to one filer.
• Length as a rough signal, not a score. A longer risk factors section does not mean a riskier company. It often just reflects how much legal detail a company's counsel chooses to include, or how many distinct business lines it has to cover.

None of this replaces reading the actual text. Item 1A is written by each company's own legal and disclosure teams, and the wording choices, not just the topics, are part of what the section is telling you.

Frequently asked questions

Is there a required list of risk factors every company must disclose?

No. The rule requires disclosure of material risk factors specific to that company's business, discussed under organized headings, not a standard checklist.

Why do some 10-Ks have a risk factor summary at the start?

A 2020 rule change requires a summary of no more than two pages if the full Item 1A section runs longer than 15 pages. Shorter sections do not need one.

Does Form 10-Q repeat the full risk factors section?

No. Item 1A in Part II of the 10-Q only needs to describe material changes from the risk factors in the company's most recent 10-K. Smaller reporting companies do not have to include it at all.

Can I pull just the risk factors section without downloading the whole filing?

Yes. Requesting item 1A for a 10-K's filing index page returns just that section as text or HTML, instead of the full document.

Do risk factors appear in filings other than the 10-K?

Yes. Registration statements such as Form S-1 include a risk factors section under the same Item 105 requirements, since it covers both periodic reports and offering documents.