How SCN Works: Our Editorial Standards, Sourcing Rules, and What Our Signals Mean

Small-cap investors get lied to more than most — pump rooms, paid promotions dressed as research, price targets conjured from vibes. Small Cap Newsroom exists as the antidote, and an antidote only works if you can inspect the ingredients. This page is the standing record of how SCN is made: where our numbers come from, how a piece is structured, what our signal language does and doesn't mean, and how we handle mistakes. Hold us to it.

Filings first

Every number in an SCN analysis traces to a primary source: the company's SEC filings, its earnings releases and prepared materials, exchange and index-provider documentation, or named, linkable reporting. Quarterly pieces are built from the 10-K, the 10-Q and the press release before anyone's commentary. When we cite third-party work — an index provider's data, a wire story, a research note — we name it. We don't publish rumors, we don't quote unnamed “sources familiar,” and if a claim can't be traced, it doesn't run.

The formats, and what each promises

• The Earnings Print — a quarter, read fast and honestly: the filing's numbers, the context around them, the strongest bull case, the strongest bear case, and what to watch next.

• Market Mechanics — the structural forces that move small caps whether or not the business changes: index reconstitutions, uplistings, insider-buying clusters, earnings calendars and market checks.

• The Fine Print — the risks written where few readers look: restatements, going-concern language, governance breaks and exchange warnings, surfaced without euphemism.

• The Deep Dive — one company, examined properly. Interview subjects answer our questions; the framing, the numbers and the skepticism stay ours.

Both sides, every time

Every analysis carries a bull case and a bear case, and we write each as if we held it. One-sided small-cap coverage is how readers get hurt: the bull who never hears the dilution math, the bear who never sees the balance sheet turning. If you can't find the argument against a piece's optimism inside the piece itself, we've failed our own standard — tell us.

What our signals mean — and what we will never tell you

SCN's signal vocabulary is deliberately modest. A Watch Signal means we've identified the specific evidence — an order number, a margin line, a covenant — that would resolve the story, and we're tracking it. A Hold Signal means the debate is live and the honest position is patience. That's the whole system. We do not issue buy or sell recommendations, price targets, or portfolio advice, and nothing on this site is personalized to your situation. SCN is an independent publisher, not a registered investment adviser or broker-dealer. Every piece ends with the same line — independent commentary for information only, not investment advice — and we mean it literally: the work is meant to make your own reading faster and sharper, not to replace it.

Corrections

When we get a number or a fact wrong, we correct the piece promptly and plainly — no silent edits of substance. If you spot an error, use the contact page and include the source that shows it; corrections with receipts get fixed fastest. Being checkable is the point of the sourcing rules above.

New here? Start with what a small-cap stock actually is, keep the glossary within reach, and watch the method work in a live earnings week.

SCN editorial — independent commentary for information only, not investment advice.