Finding an online prospectus is a snap Getting a prospectus is easy. If you're reading this online, you should be able to electronically download a prospectus without any problem. Calling the company will also work. Written mostly by lawyers, they are laden with confusing, inside-baseball jargon. In addition, the tone of these documents is decidedly negative.
Companies have to be completely honest about all of their warts in order to avoid future lawsuits.
Before you get scared off from investing in an IPO, however, you should realize that many of these risk factors and disclaimers are included in every prospectus. Then again, just because they're boilerplate doesn't mean you shouldn't pay attention. Following is a list of some warning signs that prospective IPO investors should pay close attention to. In general, they're listed in order of where one would find them in the prospectus, from the front of the document to the end. Again, this is only a partial list, and in the final analysis, what's most important is that an investor feels comfortable with a company, its business, its market position, its growth strategy, and its management.