earnings surprise

Earnings Surprise

A situation in which a publicly-traded company's earnings report indicates higher or lower profit than analysts expected. This can lead to a sharp (and often unsustainable) increase or decrease in the share price. Many companies seek to avoid earnings surprises by pricing out, or slowly leaking information before the earnings report is published.

earnings surprise

Earnings reported by a company that are different from the earnings that had been expected by the investment community. An earnings surprise often produces a sharp increase or decrease in the market price of a stock.

Earnings surprise.

When a company's earnings report either exceeds or fails to meet analysts' estimates, it's called an earnings surprise.

An upside surprise occurs when a company reports higher earnings than analysts predicted and usually triggers an increase in the stock price.

A negative surprise, on the other hand, occurs when a company fails to meet expectations and often causes the stock's price to fall. Companies try hard to avoid negative surprises since even a small deviation can create a big stir.