What is "earnings season"?
The few weeks each quarter when most public companies report their results. It starts a couple of weeks after each quarter ends and is when individual stocks make their biggest moves.
Public companies in the US have to report their results every three months. Because their quarters mostly end on the same dates, the reports cluster: a couple of weeks after the end of March, June, September and December, hundreds of companies announce in the space of a month. That cluster is earnings season.
Big banks traditionally kick it off in the second week of the month, followed by the tech giants, then everyone else. Each report comes with a call where executives take questions from analysts, and often with guidance about what the company expects next quarter.
It matters because this is when single stocks move most. A company that beats expectations can jump 10 percent before the market opens; one that misses, or beats but sounds cautious about the future, can drop just as far. If you own individual stocks, the reporting date is the one day a quarter you really want to know about in advance.
The S&P 500 earnings calendar on this site lists who reports in the next two weeks, grouped by day, and our guide on reading an earnings report explains what the numbers in the headlines mean.
Informational only, not financial advice. Updated September 4, 2026.
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