# Guide to Company Earnings

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## What Is a Quarterly Earnings Release?

A quarterly earnings release is a document that summarizes and highlights a company's earnings and other financial information for a three-month period. Quarterly earnings releases generally also provide a brief analysis from executives and may include financial statements or other information deemed important to shareholders. Some companies include an outlook for the rest of the year and graphics to help analysts get the information they are looking for.

Stock analysts and investors use these releases with other data and information to gauge the financial health of a company and its prospects for the future.

### Key Takeaways

*   Publicly traded companies publish quarterly earnings releases to notify investors of their latest performance.
*   A quarterly earnings release contains data and discussions highlighting how a company earned revenue and how shareholders were affected.
*   Fundamental analysts look for trends in the data from the current and previous quarterly releases.
*   Earnings releases include forecasts that investors and analysts can use to determine value and make investing decisions.

## Understanding the Quarterly Earnings Release

Quarterly earnings releases provide an earnings update to shareholders in a format that somewhat simplifies and better explains the information from the Form 10-Q sent to the Securities and Exchange Commission. The 10-Q is more comprehensive in nature than the quarterly earnings report and provides additional details. The quarterly earnings release is usually published before the 10-Q.

Companies are not required to issue these reports, but most publish them as press releases to ensure their shareholders are informed as early as possible.

> **Important**
>
> The term "quarterly earnings report" is often used to refer to the quarterly earnings release, but the report and release are different. The report is the Form 10-Q filed with the SEC, while the earnings release is the non-required financial summary published by companies for shareholders, analysts, and prospective investors.

## Quarterly Earnings Release Topics

Quarterly earnings releases generally begin with a discussion and analysis of the company's financial condition for the period from management. These discussions tend to announce revenue and net income compared to previous periods, any important actions taken or planned, and earnings per share. Some include financial ratios and metrics used by analysts, while others may limit their releases to only reporting earnings and earnings per share.

Many companies present information using graphics and charts and include ratios often used by analysts, but since these releases are not a requirement, they are free to present the information any way they choose.

For example, Ameren Corporation's earnings release for the second quarter of 2024 was brief and simple, while JP Morgan & Chase's format was elaborate, presenting much more information on the first page:

![Ameren / JP Morgan comp](https://www.investopedia.com/thmb/o9NyMOGivRzwFRSzplJZq06s9_M=/1500x0/filters:no_upscale():max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/Ameren-1eda9d8f065a4fd6a7b466d8ffe57ebe.jpg)

**

These periodic releases might also include the [income statement](https://www.investopedia.com/terms/i/incomestatement.asp), the [balance sheet](https://www.investopedia.com/terms/b/balancesheet.asp), and the [cash flow statement](https://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/cashflowstatement.asp). These statements provide an organized overview of sales, expenses, net income, assets, liabilities, shareholders' equity, and cash flow for the most recent quarter.

## The Impact of Quarterly Earnings Releases

The announcement of quarterly earnings for a stock, particularly for widely followed [large capitalization stocks](https://www.investopedia.com/terms/l/large-cap.asp), can move the overall market. An individual stock's price can also fluctuate wildly on days when the [company's quarterly earnings release is](https://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/03/080103.asp) published.

For better or worse, a company's ability to beat [earnings estimates](https://www.investopedia.com/terms/e/earningsestimate.asp) projected by analysts or by the firm itself can be more important than its ability to grow earnings over the prior year. If it fails to meet or exceed the estimates published in previous releases, investors may begin to lose confidence in the company.

In capital markets, it is all about market expectations since many believe expectations are already reflected in stock prices, following the [efficient markets theory](https://www.investopedia.com/terms/e/efficientmarkethypothesis.asp).

## What Are the Dates for Quarterly Earnings?

Generally, earnings seasons start one or two weeks after the last month of a calendar quarter. Companies that use non-calendar fiscal years will publish earnings releases one or two weeks after their fiscal quarters end. You should be able to obtain the exact date and time for the quarterly earnings release announcement from the company's investor relations webpage.  

## What Is the Meaning of Earnings Release?

An earnings release is a non-required quarterly earnings summary a company publishes to inform analysts and shareholders about its quarterly earnings.

## How Do I Get Quarterly Earnings Releases?

Companies usually publish earnings releases on the investor relations section of their websites.

## The Bottom Line

Quarterly earnings releases are published by public companies every three months to provide data on their latest performance. Earnings releases are important to stock analysts, investors, and others as a way of assessing a company's current financial health and its performance over time. A disappointing earnings release can have serious consequences for the company's share price and, sometimes, for the entire market.