What is Earnings report?
Choraklik hisobot
In short
The quarterly revenue and profit results a company publishes. Prices can move sharply around these dates.
Learn more →Also known as: earnings season
An earnings report is the set of financial results a company publishes every quarter: revenue, profit, EPS and other metrics. US companies file a 10-Q (quarterly) and 10-K (annual) with the SEC; results are usually presented in a press release and a conference call with investors.
What the market watches
- Actual vs expected. Beating or missing the analyst consensus is an earnings surprise.
- Revenue growth and margins.
- Guidance — the company's outlook for the next period. It often moves the price more than the past quarter does.
Reports usually come out after the close or before the open, so the stock can gap the next session. A stock falling on good results is common: the market had already priced in the expectations.
"Earnings season" is the few weeks when large companies report, starting roughly 2–6 weeks after each quarter ends. Volatility usually rises during it.
Into the report price climbed from $75 to $80. EPS beat the estimate, but the company cut next quarter's guidance — price opened at $72.5 and kept sliding in the following days.
The report came out after the close — the next day opened 11% higher with no trades in between. A stop cannot help here: price jumps over it.
Example
Illustrative: analysts expect EPS of $1.20 and revenue of $5.0B.
- Actual: EPS $1.35 (+12.5% vs estimate), revenue $4.9B (−2%).
- The company lowers next-quarter guidance.
- The stock drops 8% after hours.
If you hold 50 shares at $120: $6,000 → $5,520, a loss of $480. Even with a stop at $114, if the next day opens at $110.40 the stop fills around there — about $480 lost instead of the planned $300.
Mistakes and tips
Decide consciously before holding through earnings: a gap can jump over your stop and the loss will exceed plan.
Look beyond EPS to revenue and guidance — the price often reacts to those.
Put report dates in your calendar and set a price alert.
Gauge what the market expects with the expected move — a big reaction comes only when results land outside it.
Frequently asked questions
- Should I buy a stock before earnings?
- It's a bet: neither the results nor the reaction can be known in advance. Many traders reduce or close positions before a report to limit risk.
- Why did the stock fall after good earnings?
- Results probably weren't as good as the market expected, or the company lowered guidance. Price reacts to the gap versus expectations, not to the result itself.
- When are earnings reports released?
- After each quarter, usually before the market opens or after it closes. The company announces the exact date in advance.
Learn it in the Academy
This term is covered with hands-on examples and a quiz in these lessons of the interactive course.
- What a stock is and why its price movesA stock is a real slice of a business. IPOs, market cap, how price forms, where returns come from, and the risks.Open lesson · 11 min
- How the US market worksExchanges and brokers, sessions in Tashkent time, spread and liquidity, five order types with examples, T+1, costs and fractional shares.Open lesson · 12 min
- Earnings seasonCompanies report every quarter: the calendar, consensus, beats and misses, guidance, the conference call, the expected move, gaps and drift, and managing a position into a report.Open lesson · 13 min
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Read more on this
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