4. Fundamentals and earnings

Earnings calls (CALLS)

CALLS lists a company's earnings calls and opens each transcript with speakers, the analyst Q&A, a tone score, and the guidance and quotes pulled out of it.

  • 4 min
  • 3 questions
  • Lesson 4 of 5

Why you would care

What did management say, and what were analysts worried about? The press release gives the numbers. The call gives the story: why margins fell, what customers are saying, which question the CFO avoided. Professional investors read the Q&A first. The questions show what the smartest people in the room are worried about.

The idea from scratch

An earnings call is a conference call (often a webcast) held the day of the report, usually about an hour:

  1. Prepared remarks: the CEO and the CFO (chief financial officer) walk through the quarter and the outlook. Scripted and carefully worded.
  2. Q&A: sell-side analysts ask questions, live. Less scripted, often more revealing.

A transcript is the written text of the call, with who said what (the speakers).

Things worth listening for:

  • Guidance and how confident it sounds.
  • New words: a product, a risk, a customer mentioned for the first time.
  • Dodged questions and repeated questions on the same topic.
  • Tone: more cautious or more upbeat than last quarter.
  1. Press release: numbers
  2. Call: prepared remarks
  3. Analyst Q&A
  4. Transcript with speakers
  5. Extracted: guidance, quotes, tone

See it in Gloom

Gloom screenshot: CALLS NVDA: one row per earnings call, newest first, with the fiscal period, the length of the transcribed call and its tone
CALLS NVDA: one row per earnings call, newest first, with the fiscal period, the length of the transcribed call and its tone. Historical example.

open ittype CALLS NVDA, or CALLS alone for every newly transcribed call as it lands. Enter opens a transcript, / finds a word in it, o opens the source.

  1. Aug 26, 26 FQ2 27 59m +0.88: the latest call, for fiscal Q2 2027, 59 minutes long, with a tone score of +0.88 (positive; the score runs from negative for downbeat to positive for upbeat).
  2. on request: older calls whose transcript is produced when someone opens them; the first open takes a moment.
  3. The search box (/): filter by ticker, company or period.
  4. Inside a transcript: each paragraph with its speaker (executive or analyst and firm), the Q&A section, and the guidance and key quotes the call contained.

Practice and recap

Try it3 tasks
  1. In the screenshot, how often does NVIDIA hold a call? (Every quarter: Feb, May, Aug, Nov.)
  2. Which fiscal year does the Aug 26, 2026 call belong to? (Fiscal 2027: NVIDIA's fiscal year ends in late January.)
  3. Pick a question you would ask NVIDIA's CFO after reading its guidance in the previous lesson.
Common mistakes4 mistakes
  • Reading only the prepared remarks. The Q&A is where surprises hide.
  • Treating a tone score as a buy or sell signal. It is a rough summary of wording.
  • Missing the context of a quote. Open the transcript around it.
  • Comparing a call with nothing. Compare it with the previous quarter's call.
Check yourself3 questions
  1. What are the two parts of an earnings call?
  2. Who asks the questions?
  3. What does "on request" mean in CALLS?
Answers
  1. Prepared remarks by management, then questions and answers.
  2. Sell-side analysts covering the company.
  3. The call exists but its transcript is produced when someone opens it.
Words in this lesson6 words
earnings call
The public call management holds after reporting results.
CEO / CFO
Chief executive officer / chief financial officer.
prepared remarks
The scripted part of the call.
Q&A
Questions and answers with analysts.
transcript
The written text of the call, with speakers.
tone (sentiment)
A score of how upbeat or downbeat the wording is.

Educational material about reading market data, not investment advice.