Question

When is "earnings season", and what does this mean?

How long does it last, and why is it important?

If you are already investing in stocks, please list any one of them, and explain why you bought it.

Answer 1

Answer to first two questions only as per HOMEWORKLIB POLICY since they are related. Third question is unrelated hence please post it separately.

When is "earnings season", and what does this mean? Earnings season is the period of time during which a large number of publicly traded companies release their quarterly earning reports. In general, each earnings season begins one or two weeks after the last month of each quarter (December, March, June, and September. What Earnings Season Means for Investors This is a very active time in the market as participants (analysts, traders, and investors) review the earnings reports, which may affect their positions on or in a company. You can often see a lot of movement in the shares of companies releasing reports as the market reacts to the new data. It is not unheard of to see shares jump 20% or more or to see them fall by this same amount. It is also a highly active time for the financial news media, such as CNBC and The Wall Street Journal. There is extensive media coverage of the major earnings releases from a general recap of the earnings to report on whether the companies missed, met or beat analyst expectations. How long does it last, and why is it important? There is no official end to the earnings season, but it is considered to be over when most major companies have released their quarterly earnings reports, which generally occurs about six weeks after the start of the season. For example, for the fourth quarter, you will often see an increasing number of earnings reports released in the second week of January (Alcoa typically releases at the start of the second week). About six weeks later, or near the end of February, the number of earnings reports starts to decrease to pre-earnings season levels. There is also very little time between each earnings season. For example, the earnings season for the first quarter begins in early April, which is a little over a month after the end of the fourth quarter season.