Earnings surprises

Earnings surprises

Positive or negative differences from the consensus forecast of earnings by institutions such as First Call or IBES. Negative earnings surprises generally have a greater adverse effect on stock prices than a reciprocal positive 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.