Earnings season turns every holding into a coin flip with a scheduled date. Four times a year, companies report results and stocks routinely move 5–15% in minutes — often more on guidance than on the numbers themselves. A plan for earnings week is not optional.

What actually moves stocks

It is rarely the reported quarter. It is the surprise versus expectations: a company can grow 20% and fall 10% because the market priced in 30%. Guidance matters more than results — the market trades the next four quarters, not the last one.

Before the report

• Check positioning: if you wouldn't buy the stock today at its pre-earnings price, holding through the binary is hope, not strategy.
• For marginal positions, trimming into the report is the mechanical answer — you cannot lose money on shares you already sold.
• Check expectations: the whisper numbers matter more than the published consensus.

The three post-earnings setups

• Gap and hold: the stock gaps on the news and holds the gap — the market believes the move. Continuation trades work here.
• Gap and fade: a big gap that sells off all day means the market disagrees with the headline; fade rallies.
• Sell the news: good results into overbought positioning drops anyway. Great fundamentals are not short-term protection.

The best trades are rarely the earnings night itself — they are the setups that form in the days after, once the reaction tells you what the market actually believed.

How we handle earnings

Our daily picks and portfolio analysis watch earnings calendars for your holdings, so an unexpected report never ambushes a position you forgot was reporting.

Key takeaways

• Earnings move on surprise and guidance, not on absolute results.
• If you wouldn't buy it here, don't hold the binary — trim.
• The highest-quality setups come after the reaction, not on the print.

This article is for informational purposes only and is not investment advice.