Earnings Report

Defining Earnings Report

In simple words, an Earnings report is a filing made by public companies for the purpose of reporting their performance. Generally, such reports include Earnings Per Share, net Income, net sales, and earnings from consistent operations.

By evaluating these reports, investors get to assess the financial situation of the company and comprehend if it requires investment or not. As per the fundamental analysts, good investments can be discovered with performance and ratio analysis.

Specific attention is paid to trend in ratios available in the earnings report. One of the most looked after the numbers are earnings per share as it offers a hint toward how much the company is paying to its shareholders.

Explaining the Earnings Report

Generally, the earnings report helps gaining an update of three financial statements, such as the cash flow statement, the Balance Sheet and the income statement. Every report provides investors with three primary insights, net income for the recent quarter, expenses, and the sales overview.

It may also compare the previous year or quarter and the current year or quarter performances. Furthermore, some reports also have a precise summary and analysis from the spokesman of the company.

Generally, the earnings report is backed by the legal document of the company that should be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The exact time and date of the report’s announcement can be acquired by contacting the investor relation department of the company.

Earnings Report Limitations

At the end of every quarter, investors and analysts wait for the company's Earnings Announcement. This announcement of earnings for a specific stock, especially the one that is a large capitalization stock, can easily move the Market. On the days of releasing these reports, stock prices can fluctuate considerably.

In a way, the ability of a company to beat estimates of earnings projected by the company or analysts is more important than the firm’s ability to grow its earnings over the period of time.

For instance, if the company has reported earnings growth from the previous quarterly earnings report but fails to exceed, or even meet, the estimates published before the report’s release, it may lead to sell-off of stocks.

Thus, in several ways, the estimates made by analysts are equally important as the real earning report.