Earnings Estimates - Earnings - Estimates, Guidance, Call Transcripts

What are Earnings Estimates?

Wall Street Analysts' build financial models to predict the forward or future earnings of the companies they follow.

Financial databases report both the actual estimates from individual analysts and a consensus estimate. The consensus forecast is the average or median of all the estimates from individual analysts. Consensus estimates are published for the current quarter and year and for future quarters/years.

Investors watch for differences between the consensus and the actual earnings reported by the company. Stock prices will move on reports that the company fell short of, or exceeded, the consensus.

Read about Earnings Estimates and Their Impact on Stock Prices.

Find Current Earnings Estimates

Bloomberg Professional
Bloomberg is a major provider of earnings estimates for over 18,000 public companies globally. Use these Bloomberg functions:
EE for Bloomberg's earnings projections
EEO for consensus estimates & broker detail
EM for estimates with period-to-period percentage changes
EERM for earnings estimates revisions
SURP for earnings or revenue surprises
Bloomberg is available in the Subotnick Financial Services Center.
FactSet
FactSet offers earnings estimates, actual and consensus, for over 16,000 companies in Europe, Asia, and the Americas. Estimates link back to source documents including press releases and analyst reports. FactSet is available in the Subotnick Financial Services Center.
S&P Capital IQ
Capital IQ provides its own calculation of consensus earnings for over 18,000 companies in 100 countries. They also identify recent changes by analyst, earnings surprises, and earnings revisions. All data links back to the source documents. Capital IQ is available in the Subotnick Financial Services Center.
Mergent Online
Mergent offers consensus earnings for more than 25,000 global publicly traded companies. From the company profile page, use the "Earnings Estimates" tab for consensus for earnings per share, revenue, and EBITDA.

Find Earnings Previews and Recaps

FactSet uses CallStreet Reports to provide transcripts (in PDF format only) of earnings calls. Transcripts are available only for the latest year.

FactSet also offers summary and analysis of company earnings releases including:

Street Takeaway
StreetAccount Metrics Recap
StreetAccount Event Preview
StreetAccount Consensus Metrics Preview

FactSet's Backline Report of the current earnings release highlights changes/additions/ deletions from the company's earlier report.

FactSet is available in the Subotnick Financial Services Center at Baruch.

Find Earnings History

FactSet
FactSet offers up to five years of earnings estimate history and a history of earnings surprises. Data can be downloaded or formatted for charts/graphs. FactSet is available in the Subotnick Financial Services Center.
I/B/E/S
Historical earnings estimates for more than 70,000 companies around the globe
US coverage back to 1976 and international coverage back to 1987
Forecast items include earnings, sales, revenue, dividends, net income, EBITDA, long-term growth and more
Estimates are available in both summary form (mean and median estimates) and estimates from individual analysts.
Includes buy/sell/ hold recommendations.
Access to I/B/E/S is provided through the WRDS platform.

Guides to the Earnings Data from Bloomberg, FactSet and S&P Capital IQ

Bloomberg Earnings Season
Bloomberg guide to finding analyst estimates, earnings news, and earnings calendars. Also their guide to analyzing the trend and quality of earnings.
FactSet Estimates
FactSet's survey of their earnings data and a brief description of how to use FactSet for earnings analysis.
S&P Capital IQ Estimates
The Capital IQ guide to their estimates coverage and charting options.