diff --git a/due_diligence/market_watch_api.py b/due_diligence/market_watch_api.py
index ad978b3a76f..251587ea779 100644
--- a/due_diligence/market_watch_api.py
+++ b/due_diligence/market_watch_api.py
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@ def sec_fillings(l_args, s_ticker):
 
     text_soup_financials = BeautifulSoup(requests.get(url_financials).text,"lxml")
 
+    df_financials = None
     a_financials_header = list()
     b_ready_to_process_info = False
     soup_financials = text_soup_financials.findAll('tr', {'class': 'table__row'})