what is a quarterly earnings report 
a quarterly earnings report is a filing made by public companies every three months to report on their recent financial performance quarterly earnings reports include items such as net income earnings per share earnings from continuing operations and net sales stock analysts and investors use quarterly earnings reports as one way to gauge the financial health of the company and its prospects for the future understanding the quarterly earnings reportquarterly earnings reports provide an update of three financial statements the income statement the balance sheet and the cash flow statement that information includes an overview of sales expenses and net income for the most recent quarter the report may also provide a comparison to the previous year and possibly to the previous quarter some quarterly earnings reports include a brief summary and analysis from the ceo or other company spokesperson the quarterly earnings report is generally backed up by the company s form 10 q which companies must file with the securities and exchange commission each quarter for the first three quarters of the year at the end of the fourth quarter companies file a 10 k form reporting annual performance 1 the 10 q is more comprehensive in nature than the quarterly earnings report and provides additional details it is usually published a few weeks after the quarterly earnings report fundamental analysts pay particular attention to the trend in ratios gleaned from quarterly earnings reports over time rather than to individual data points from the latest report one of the most important numbers for these analysts is earnings per share some companies post quarterly earnings reports going back several years on their websites the impact of quarterly earnings reportsthe announcement of quarterly earnings for a stock particularly for widely followed large capitalization stocks can move the overall market an individual stock s price can also fluctuate wildly on days when the company s quarterly earnings report is released for better or worse a company s ability to beat earnings estimates 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 before the release that may result in a sell off of the stock in capital markets it is all about market expectations since many believe expectations are already reflected in stock prices following the efficient markets theory 