How to check an earnings headline against the company filing

A company headline gives revenue to the nearest tenth of a billion dollars. A quarterly filing has the figure in millions and breaks it into categories. The two documents can help answer different parts of the same question. Apple’s first fiscal quarter of 2024 is a useful example because the press release and Form 10-Q are both available in the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s EDGAR system.

Find the period before looking for the number

Apple’s earnings release came out on February 1, 2024 and covered a quarter ending December 30, 2023. Apple attached the release as Exhibit 99.1 to its Form 8-K under Item 2.02. The company announced quarterly revenue of $119.6 billion. When searching EDGAR, match the quarter end in the document rather than relying on the release month. A fiscal quarter can cross the calendar labels you might use in an ordinary search.

The SEC’s guide explains that results in an 8-K can point to financial statements in a periodic report. For this example, open the 10-Q for the period ending December 30. The income statement shows total net sales of 119,575 in millions of dollars. Divide by 1,000 and you get $119.575 billion, which rounds to the $119.6 billion in the release.

Check what changed inside the total

The quarterly report gives both the comparison period and the category detail. Apple’s total net sales rose from $117.154 billion to $119.575 billion, an increase of $2.421 billion. Using the earlier total as the denominator, that works out to about 2.1%. The release gives the change rounded to a whole percent.

On the same table, services increased from $20.766 billion to $23.117 billion, up $2.351 billion. Products increased from $96.388 billion to $96.458 billion, up $70 million. The two changes add to the $2.421 billion increase. The filing’s category table goes further. It reports higher iPhone net sales and lower iPad net sales, so the small net change in products includes movements in different directions.

Reuse the method with another headline

Start with the company name, fiscal period and measure. Match the release to the regulatory exhibit when one exists, then find the corresponding table in the periodic report. Check whether the table is in dollars, thousands or millions and whether the heading says net sales, operating income or another measure. If a headline offers a prediction for a future period, keep it separate from the reported quarter.