A company’s earnings report is a public statement of the company’s profitability, financial condition and authoritative statement of the company’s current overall performance. All publicly traded companies in the US are required by law to file quarterly reports, annual reports, and 10-Q and 10-K reports.
Current and potential shareholders can track upcoming earnings releases through online resources such as the Nasdaq Online Earnings Calendar.
Previously released earnings reports can be found on the Securities and Exchange Commissions (SEC) website — SEC.gov — and in other publications such as Morningstar (as well as a company’s website).
These earnings reports that appear at the same time serve as public balance sheets. As a result, stocks can rise and fall with each new announcement during this period. However, an earnings report does not necessarily say anything about the long-term viability of a stock. It is important to be careful with the information provided in an earnings announcement.
How to track earnings reports through Nasdaq
The Nasdaq Online Earnings Calendar contains a collection of upcoming earnings reports. You can search for a company by a specific start date or exchange code to get a quick overview of key information.
For example, you can see published reports for the current day, and these reports contain basic data points such as market capitalization, consensus forecasts for earnings per share (EPS), as well as EPS for the last few years.
How to Track Earnings Reports Using the SEC’s EDGAR
The most reliable and complete resource for all income reports is on the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) website (SEC.gov). With the EDGAR system, you can search for any publicly traded company and read quarterly, annual, 10-Q and 10-K reports.
Many people confuse the quarterly report with the 10-Q form. This is understandable as both are based on quarterly data. However, the 10-Q is a much longer document filled with black and white financial information. While this can make for tedious reading, it allows investors to avoid some of the extraneous information often found in official earnings reports.
Listen to earnings conference calls
Earnings calls are generally open to the general public. If you keep track of when salary interviews are scheduled, you can often hear them live via a cell phone or device. These earnings calls can provide even better information about a company’s financial health than quarterly earnings reports.
Results conferences can also be accessed online; They can usually be found in the Investor Relations section of a company’s website. Many companies continue to provide access to earnings conference calls on their corporate websites for some time after the actual conference call, allowing investors to access and analyze valuable information.