The single strongest red flag an auditor can raise about a company's ability to keep operating.
In a company's audited annual report, the independent auditor sometimes states there is "substantial doubt about the company's ability to continue as a going concern" — auditor language, required under U.S. auditing standards, for a real, material risk that the company may not survive the next twelve months without a major change (refinancing, a capital raise, a sale of assets).
This site queries SEC EDGAR's full-text search for the phrase "substantial doubt" in each company's most recent 10-K, restricted to that filing's exact filing date (not the company's entire history) — so an old, since-resolved going-concern issue from years ago doesn't wrongly flag a company that has since recovered.
A going-concern flag doesn't mean bankruptcy is certain, but it means the company's own auditor — the professional with full access to its books — sees enough risk to be legally required to disclose it. Treat it as a strong signal to read the actual filing before doing anything else, not as background noise.
Don't confuse this with routine boilerplate about accounting estimates, which sometimes contains the word "doubt" in an unrelated context — this site specifically searches for the standard audit phrase ("substantial doubt"), the actual language auditors are required to use for this specific finding, not just any mention of uncertainty.
What are 10-K, 10-Q, and 8-K filings? What is the debt ratio?
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