Dow component Alcoa, ticker AA has the honor of the official start of earnings season.
On Wednesday, Oct 7th, 2009 the official start of the 90 day treadmill, called earnings season begins. We are not sure why Alcoa has been labeled the commencement company, but for whatever reason,Wall Street tunes in, and labels this company the beginning of earnings season. Prior to Alcoa’s official start there have been a few companies releasing earnings, and so far, in our opinion, most results have been positive.
Last week marked the end of the month, AND quarter, and in our opinion, there was a slight “mark up” hangover Let the “Mark Ups” Begin, along with a few slightly disappointing economic numbers.
As we move through the next few weeks, what is important is expectations versus realities. While the headlines may read, “Profits Down X” or “Earnings Down X”, what is most important for a companies stock price, right or wrong, is the expected earnings for next quarter along with this quarter’s results.
We diligently sit on many conference calls and read many transcripts of calls to give us an idea of how companies, and therefore our economy is doing. This makes for a very busy time of the year for us, especially at 7 am and 4 pm, prime time release hours.
We will update you with our thoughts as the numbers pour in.
JK