Earnings reports are some of the most important sources of information available to stock investors. They provide important details about the current state of a business, reveal key financial information, and may include forward-looking earnings and revenue projections, as well as commentary from the CEO or other company leaders.
If you're invested in a particular stock, reading its quarterly and year-end earnings reports is one of the smartest things you can do to ensure your investment is still a good one. If you aren't invested in a company, reading through its recent earnings reports can help you analyze profitability, growth, financial conditions, and other important information to make educated decisions about whether a company would be a good fit for your portfolio.
What are earnings reports?
Earnings reports are (usually) quarterly releases that provide important details on a company's business operations and updated financial statements.
Publicly traded companies in the United States are generally required to issue earnings reports quarterly to disclose and discuss their business results, both quarterly and full-year, to the investing community. They must be issued in a timely manner after the end of the period being reported.
Most (but not all) companies release their earnings reports within three to seven weeks after the end of the fiscal quarter. This period that occurs after each calendar quarter is often referred to as earnings season. In a company's earnings report, you can find information on its revenue (also known as top line) and earnings (bottom line) and how specific parts of the company performed.
Most companies provide commentary from senior leadership on the results, along with valuable context about future growth initiatives. These typically come both in the form of comments in the written earnings report and in an earnings conference call, which usually occurs within a day or so after the earnings report is released. Many provide forward projections, or guidance, which tell investors how management expects the business to perform in the coming quarter or for the full year.
Upcoming critical earnings reports in 2025
Thousands of stocks trade on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and the Nasdaq stock exchange in the United States, and thousands more trade on over-the-counter (OTC) markets and on international stock exchanges. So, it's impossible for us to discuss all of them. However, here's a list of some of the most closely followed companies when it comes to earnings reports, followed by their latest results and upcoming earnings dates.
| Name and ticker | Market cap | Dividend yield | Industry |
|---|---|---|---|
| Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) | $2.4 trillion | 0.00% | Multiline Retail |
| Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) | $1.6 trillion | 0.00% | Automobiles |
| Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) | $3.6 trillion | 0.70% | Software |
| Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRK.B) | $1.1 trillion | 0.00% | Diversified Financial Services |
| Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) | $4.5 trillion | 0.02% | Semiconductors and Semiconductor Equipment |
| Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) | $3.7 trillion | 0.27% | Interactive Media and Services |
| Shopify (NASDAQ:SHOP) | $220.9 billion | 0.00% | IT Services |
| Block (NYSE:XYZ) | $39.6 billion | 0.00% | Diversified Financial Services |
| Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) | $1.7 trillion | 0.32% | Interactive Media and Services |
| Nike (NYSE:NKE) | $84.6 billion | 2.81% | Textiles, Apparel and Luxury Goods |
Recent important earnings reports
For the 10 stocks in the earnings calendar chart above, here's a rundown of how things went the last time they reported earnings.
1. Amazon
NASDAQ: AMZN
Key Data Points
NASDAQ: TSLA
Key Data Points
NASDAQ: MSFT
Key Data Points
NYSE: BRK.B
Key Data Points
NASDAQ: NVDA
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6. Alphabet
NASDAQ: SHOP
Key Data Points
8. Block
NYSE: XYZ
Key Data Points
NASDAQ: META
Key Data Points
NYSE: NKE
Key Data Points
Understanding key financial metrics in earnings reports
Earnings reports are a great way to spot profitability and growth trends in the companies you follow. The most obvious metrics to watch are revenue (sales) and earnings (net income), which are often referred to as the top and bottom lines, respectively.
Other key metrics in earnings reports include:
- Profit margins (gross, operating, net)
- Free cash flow
- Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA)
- Guidance for the next quarter or year
Why are earnings reports important?
Earnings reports are important because:
- They provide many important insights into the current state of the companies you invest in and clues about where those companies could be heading.
- Earnings reports can help you spot growth trends, profit margin growth or contractions, balance sheet health, and how management expects the business to perform going forward.
- A company's key executives can provide context and commentary about the numbers you read in their earnings reports.
Earnings Call
With most U.S. companies, earnings reports are the most up-to-date look investors will get at a company's business and financials. Reading the most recent earnings report is an important part of doing ongoing due diligence as a buy-and-hold investor and can help you find new investment opportunities.
Related investing topics
How to identify potential concerns in a company's earnings report
There's no perfect way to identify red flags in a company's earnings report, and it's important to evaluate any concerning information in context with the industry conditions, macroeconomic environment, and other factors.
Having said that, here are a few things to watch out for:
- Slowing earnings growth.
- Missed guidance (revenue or earnings).
- Reduced guidance.
- Margin compression that isn't for some valid reason.
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