Earnings Season Talking Points:
- What is Earnings Season?
- Why is it Important to Look at Company Earnings?
- Bellwether Stocks
- Earnings Recession
- Top 10 stocks Across US and Europe
Earnings Season
Earnings season is a period within the year, usually lasting several weeks, where the majority of listed companies announce their latest financial accounts. An earnings report consists of revenues, net income, earnings per share (EPS) and forward outlook, which provides investors with insight in regard to the current health and outlook for the company.
As such, earnings season helps market participants trade the company they are monitoring and the broader index, depending the impact the company has i.e. strong Apple (AAPL) earnings report may see investors buy Nasdaq[1] 100 futures.
When is Earnings Season?
Earnings season takes place a few weeks after each quarter ends (December, March, June, September). In other words, earnings seasons begins around January-February (Q4 results), April-May (Q1 results), July-August (Q2 results) and October-November (Q3 results), with the unofficial start of earning season confirmed when the major US banks report. This typically coincides with an increase in the number of earnings being released, while the unofficial end of earning season is roughly around the time that Walmart (WMT) announce their earnings report.
Why is it Important to Look at Company Earnings?
Corporate earnings are among the most important fundamental drivers of individual stocks and by extension the broader stock market over the long run. Additionally, in the short term, there is not an awful lot
