Visit our new site at BusinessJournalism.org
Reynolds Center Programs
Daylong Workshops
Online Seminars
One-hour Tutorials
Barlett & Steele Awards
Professors Seminar
Strictly Financials Seminar
Research
Covering Business
Starting Out
Business Writing
Business Design
Business Glossary
Ethics
Five Questions with...
Immigration Series
Business Journalism Resources
Job Listings
Academic Programs
Book Listings and Reviews
Scholarships
Calculators
Web Resources
Tutorials
Article Index
Workshop Registration
The Reynolds Center has announced its 2009-10 free workshop schedule.
Select a workshop and register from the drop-down menu below.
Online Seminars
The Reynolds Center registration for Fall 2009 free online seminars.
Online Business Journalism: Mixing HD and viewer participation
By Carol Legg
Earnings Season
By Michelle Leder
Recipients Announced for Business Journalism Scholarships
By Reynolds Center Staff
Winners and Losers
By Chris Roush
Under the Radar
By Dick Weiss
Earnings Season
By Michelle Leder
February 27, 2009
It’s now earnings season and that means lots of quick stories with lots of numbers for the typical business reporter. For business journalists, earnings reports are the equivalent of the police blotter for the cops reporter – a necessary evil that almost seems like busy work.
When I was working as a daily reporter, it was pretty common for me to write three or four of these in a day. Indeed, with so many releases coming so regularly, it can be pretty tempting to do a quick rewrite of the press release. Earnings? Check. Revenues? Check. Throw in the pre-packaged quote from the CEO and move on to the next story. After all, how much does anyone really want to read about this anyway?
But here’s the reason why you should take a little more time with the boring earnings story: companies assume that most reporters – even seasoned business journalists - approach them in a formulaic way. So they trot out phrases like “record revenues” and cross their fingers that the reporter will bite.
Take this release that was put out by Atlanta-based CryoLife earlier this month. The headline sounds so bold and optimistic: “CryoLife Reports Record Annual Revenues of $105.1 Million for FY 2008”. Here’s how the local business journal reported the story. In a word: they bit at the record earnings.
But it’s only when you start to drill down into the release that you realize that earnings for the fourth quarter weren’t quite so record-setting. In fact, without a $20.1 million tax benefit, earnings would have been flat for the quarter.
Reflecting the disappointing earnings, the stock fell a whopping 27% that day. So clearly not everyone was seduced by the record revenues: investors dumped the stock in droves on the news.
In fact, here’s a rule that’s I’ve found to be pretty handy when it comes to earnings releases: when the company uses the word record in the headline, take that as a sign to drill a bit deeper.
Email this article
Copyright © 2009 Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism
The Reynolds Center has announced its 2009-10 free workshop schedule.
Select a workshop and register from the drop-down menu below.
The Reynolds Center registration for Fall 2009 free online seminars.
By Carol Legg
Earnings Season
By Michelle Leder
Recipients Announced for Business Journalism Scholarships
By Reynolds Center Staff
Winners and Losers
By Chris Roush
Under the Radar
By Dick Weiss
Earnings Season
By Michelle Leder
February 27, 2009
It’s now earnings season and that means lots of quick stories with lots of numbers for the typical business reporter. For business journalists, earnings reports are the equivalent of the police blotter for the cops reporter – a necessary evil that almost seems like busy work.
When I was working as a daily reporter, it was pretty common for me to write three or four of these in a day. Indeed, with so many releases coming so regularly, it can be pretty tempting to do a quick rewrite of the press release. Earnings? Check. Revenues? Check. Throw in the pre-packaged quote from the CEO and move on to the next story. After all, how much does anyone really want to read about this anyway?
But here’s the reason why you should take a little more time with the boring earnings story: companies assume that most reporters – even seasoned business journalists - approach them in a formulaic way. So they trot out phrases like “record revenues” and cross their fingers that the reporter will bite.
Take this release that was put out by Atlanta-based CryoLife earlier this month. The headline sounds so bold and optimistic: “CryoLife Reports Record Annual Revenues of $105.1 Million for FY 2008”. Here’s how the local business journal reported the story. In a word: they bit at the record earnings.
But it’s only when you start to drill down into the release that you realize that earnings for the fourth quarter weren’t quite so record-setting. In fact, without a $20.1 million tax benefit, earnings would have been flat for the quarter.
Reflecting the disappointing earnings, the stock fell a whopping 27% that day. So clearly not everyone was seduced by the record revenues: investors dumped the stock in droves on the news.
In fact, here’s a rule that’s I’ve found to be pretty handy when it comes to earnings releases: when the company uses the word record in the headline, take that as a sign to drill a bit deeper.
Copyright © 2009 Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism