Course · Act IV: Earnings Season · Chapter 20
Earnings beats, misses and guidance
How quarterly results are judged: consensus estimates, beats and misses, guidance, and why a stock can fall on good news that was already priced in.
Key terms
- Consensus
- The average of analysts’ estimates. Results are judged against it.
- Beat / miss
- Results above / below consensus.
- Guidance
- Management’s own forecast for coming periods.
- Priced in
- Already expected, so already reflected in the share price.
“Beat, Miss & Guidance” is part of the full course: 5 puzzles on earnings beats, misses and guidance, with a story that carries through all five acts. Try this act’s free chapter, “Anatomy of a Report”, first.