An earnings report is a public disclosure issued by a company, typically quarterly or annually, that shares its financial performance with investors and stakeholders. Publicly traded companies must provide these disclosures for transparency, as required by bodies like the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). While

financial statement Financial statements (or financial reports) are formal records of the financial activities and position of a business, person, or other entity. Relevant financial information is presented in a structured manner and in a form which is easy to un ...

s—such as the

balance sheet In financial accounting, a balance sheet (also known as statement of financial position or statement of financial condition) is a summary of the financial balances of an individual or organization, whether it be a sole proprietorship, a business ...

income statement An income statement or profit and loss accountProfessional English in Use - Finance, Cambridge University Press, p. 10 (also referred to as a ''profit and loss statement'' (P&L), ''statement of profit or loss'', ''revenue statement'', ''statement o ...

, and

cash flow statement In financial accounting, a cash flow statement, also known as ''statement of cash flows'', is a financial statement that shows how changes in balance sheet accounts and income affect cash and cash equivalents, and breaks the analysis down to oper ...

—provide the raw data, an earnings report distills key metrics like

revenue In accounting, revenue is the total amount of income generated by the sale of product (business), goods and services related to the primary operations of a business. Commercial revenue may also be referred to as sales or as turnover. Some compan ...

and

earnings per share Earnings per share (EPS) is the monetary value of earnings per outstanding share of common stock for a company during a defined accounting period, period of time, often a year. It is a key measure of corporate profitability, focusing on the inte ...

(EPS), adding management commentary and forward-looking guidance. In some regulatory contexts, the term may loosely refer to filings like the quarterly

Form 10-Q Form 10-Q, (also known as a 10-Q or 10Q) is a quarterly report mandated by the United States federal Securities and Exchange Commission, to be filed by publicly traded corporations. Pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange ...

or yearly

Form 10-K A Form 10-K is an annual report required by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), that gives a comprehensive summary of a company's financial performance. Although similarly named, the annual report on Form 10-K is distinct from the ...

. Informally, it is sometimes used as a synonym for the

alone. Earnings reports help investors,

financial analyst A financial analyst is a professional undertaking financial analysis for external or internal clients as a core feature of the job. profitability In economics, profit is the difference between revenue that an economic entity has received from its outputs and total costs of its inputs, also known as surplus value. It is equal to total revenue minus total cost, including both Explicit co ...

and efficiency. In the United States, companies file quarterly reports via the Form 10-Q for the first three quarters, with Annual reports filed via the Form 10-K. An

earnings call An earnings call is a teleconference or webcast in which a public company discusses its financial results for a reporting period, often providing earnings guidance for future performance. The term stems from earnings per share (EPS), calculated ...

often accompanies these disclosures, where executives discuss results and plans. The release of an earnings report can affect a company's stock price. Strong results that beat expectations may lift prices, while weak ones can cause drops. Companies may also announce

dividend A dividend is a distribution of profits by a corporation to its shareholders, after which the stock exchange decreases the price of the stock by the dividend to remove volatility. The market has no control over the stock price on open on the ex ...

s or updates in these reports.

References

{{business-stub Income statement

See also

References