Earnings season comes around once a quarter (four times per year) and is the time when most (not all) publicly traded companies report earnings. A publicly traded company is a company that sells stocks to the public.
During earnings season, regulated public companies are required by SEC law* to submit a summary of how the company is doing – specifically how it performed over the past 3 months. Think of it as a ‘report card’ where companies share important financial information and make comparisons to prior quarters and years. They also provide updates on any current or future business plans.
Earnings reports allow existing and prospective investors to examine for themselves how a business is doing.
Earnings calls and reports are free and readily available to the public. That means that anyone can listen in live and/or have access to the full transcript of what was said once the call is over.
Interested in checking out the earnings of a stock on your radar? Is easy!
(1) Go to the official website of the company you are interested in and search for the “Investors’ Relations” tab.
(2) Within Investors Relations – search for a tab/link that says “Press Releases” or “Quarterly Earnings.”
(3) Once in that section look for the most recent quarterly earnings.
And that’s all folks! Questions? Comments? Something wasn’t clear? Let me know in the comments.
*The SEC is the entity of the government that regulates public companies. You can check out compliance requirements here.
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Still a bit confused? No worries! One of the MANY things I teach in the Stock Investing Bootcamp for Beginners is how to read and understand quarterly reports. I teach you what to look for, what the terminology means, and how to use the information for your research. To join the waiting list for the upcoming course, click here!
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