How close to the earnings announcement can data be taken into account?
If a company is benefiting strongly from the pandemic, and they have an earnings announcement relatively soon (say April or May), will the increase in income from the pandemic be reflected in the earnings statement? I understand earnings are for the previous quarter, but practically there must be a limit where it is no longer feasible to include new information in the reports (as they've already been written, calculations have already been made, etc.)
Obviously the answer is "it depends"; I'm just looking for an estimate or idea of how this happens for most companies.
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There isn't a one size fits all answer to your question.
Companies that report right away after the end of the quarter are less likely to include data from the last month of the quarter.
Companies that report later in the earnings announcement cycle are more likely to include earnings for the end of the quarter but there's no guarantee that they will. As an example, APD reported its earnings on 4/23:
Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. APD logged earnings from continuing operations of .21 per share in second-quarter fiscal 2020 (ended Mar 31, 2020), up 16% from .90 recorded in the year-ago quarter. The bottom line in the reported quarter was driven by higher volumes and pricing across all regions.
Note that their fiscal year is different than the calendar year.
will the increase in income from the pandemic be reflected in the earnings statement?
Certainly if that income was earned in the prior quarter, it would be reflected in the financials for that period. What I think you're wondering, though, is will future income be available. The answer is of course "maybe". Companies may (or may not) discuss expected operating activity (from which profit may be inferred) and other market conditions that may be favorable to them going forward (there's also a large "forward-looking" disclaimer to indicate that there's no guarantees of anything). They may also need to discuss risks that the pandemic created for them or other extraordinary activity, but the earnings themselves will only reflect what actually happened in that quarter.
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