The Cash & Chaos field guide
Understand the numbers.
Then read the news.
Practical explanations of the ideas behind an earnings headline. Open-access guides with worked examples and sources you can follow.
Earnings & expectations
An earnings beat. A falling stock. What changed?
Learn why stocks can fall after beating earnings estimates, how guidance changes the picture, and which comparisons matter before explaining a market reaction.
Read the guide ↗ 4 min02Company outlooks
Guidance: read the range, then the assumptions.
A practical guide to company earnings guidance: ranges, midpoints, prior forecasts, analyst estimates, GAAP adjustments and the assumptions behind the outlook.
Read the guide ↗ 4 min03Cash flow & accounting
Profit on paper. Cash in the business.
Understand why net income and free cash flow differ, how operating cash flow and capital expenditure connect them, and what a headline cash number can leave out.
Read the guide ↗ 4 min04Valuation basics
A low P/E is the start of a question.
Learn how price-to-earnings ratios work, why trailing and forward P/E differ, and how changing earnings can change the apparent valuation.
Read the guide ↗ 3 min05Capital allocation
EPS can rise while profit stands still.
Understand the share-count arithmetic behind buybacks, why authorizations differ from completed repurchases, and how to read EPS growth alongside profit and cash use.
Read the guide ↗ 3 min06Margins & profitability
Follow the margin from sales to operations.
Learn the difference between gross margin and operating margin, with a worked income statement and a way to distinguish product costs from operating spending.
Read the guide ↗ 3 minPublished on the web. Read any guide without subscribing.