Read the annual report in sequence: business description, then risk factors skimmed for changes versus last year (that diff is where new information hides), then MD&A for management's own explanation and the promises they are making, then the statements, then the footnotes — where the real work happens. Revenue recognition, segments, debt, leases, contingencies, related parties, share-based compensation, taxes, goodwill assumptions, subsequent events and critical audit matters repay the time.
Then go outside the filing: segment tables, the proxy, the last eight to twelve transcripts read for the Q&A rather than the prepared remarks, a guidance-given-versus-delivered table over three to five years, competitors' filings and calls, and primary channels like job postings, reviews, trade press and import/export data.
The numbers cannot answer four questions: whether the unit economics work when you strip the company to one customer or one store, which specific moat exists and whether it is widening, how concentrated the customer base is, and what would kill the business. Write the obituary before you buy, then look for early symptoms in the current numbers.
Educational, not investment advice.