Earnings announcements and date changes ‘most impactful’ events for investors, notes Wall Street Horizon survey

Investors have faced losses because earnings dates were missing, incorrect or had changed, according to annual research from Wall Street Horizon.

With investors reportedly increasingly using corporate event data to get ahead of volatility, the firm says changes to earnings announcement dates ‘resulted in an increased number of losses’ compared with 2021 survey findings.

This year’s research shows that half of surveyed investors saw a loss due to an earnings date that was missing, incorrect or had changed. Of that 50 percent, 41 percent said they had missed a trade, 24 percent said issues with earnings dates resulted in a poorly timed investment and 24 percent said it had affected trading strategies.

There has also been a shift in the most-followed corporate event types, with spin-offs, buybacks and dividends dropping out of Wall Street Horizon’s list of top five corporate events followed by investors.

Instead, the firm says earnings announcements and earnings date changes are considered most important to follow, with investor and analyst events, conference presentations and M&A rounding out this year’s top five.

Wall Street Horizon, a provider of ‘market-moving corporate event data’, surveyed more than 100 portfolio managers, traders/investors and researchers at quantitative and discretionary fund managers to build out its findings.

‘Independent academic research has shown that ‘corporate body language’ – changes to the earnings calendar – can provide predictive signals as to the future state of the company’s health,’ says Barry Star, CEO of Wall Street Horizon, in a statement announcing the results of the research. ‘The survey reinforces [the idea] that traders read non-financial cues, including the signals public company executives relay to the market in their actions.’