What Is Guidance in Finance?

By Kristi Waterworth – Updated Jun 13, 2025 at 12:07 AM

Key Points

Company guidance provides future financial forecasts, aiding investment decisions.
It includes metrics like revenue estimates and earnings, offered in ranges.
Regulation FD ensures all investors receive guidance simultaneously, promoting fairness.

Sometimes, as investors, we wish we could see the future -- it would sure make picking stocks a lot easier. Although we clearly can't do that, we can rely on something called "guidance" provided by many publicly traded companies. Read on to better understand what guidance is and how it will affect you.

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Profit

The amount of money a business retains from sales after subtracting expenses, taxes, and other costs involved in operation.

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About the Author

Kristi Waterworth has been a contributing real estate and financial expert at The Motley Fool, covering real estate, investing, and personal finance topics, since 2020. Kristi has been interviewed by various TV media outlets and podcasts for her real estate investing expertise – from residential real estate to digital real estate and everything in between. Kristi’s journalist career spans over 25 years, and she has written about real estate investing, homeownership, and home construction specifically for the last decade. She was also previously a licensed Realtor and general building contractor before the Great Recession and housing market collapse. She holds a bachelor’s degree in American history from Columbia College in Missouri.

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