Earnings

Explanation :

Topline earnings make up the total revenue or gross sales of a company. This number is usually the first number presented on a Profit and Loss statement. Many people refer to the topline as earnings because this is the amount of money that a company earned throughout the year. This form of earnings can be interchangeable with the term revenues. Bottom-line earnings are the complete opposite. When someone uses the word earnings to refer to bottom-line earnings, they are really talking about net income or net earnings. This is usually the last number presented on a Profit and Loss statement. This usage makes sense too when you think about it. Net income is the amount of money that the company actually gets to keep. This is the money left over after it has paid all of its expenses. So some people look at this as the true earnings of the company.

In a nutshell :

• Earnings refer to a company's profits in a given quarter or fiscal year.
• Earnings are a key figure used to determine a stock's value.
• A company's earnings are used in many common ratios.
• Earnings have a big impact on stock price, and as a result, the numbers are subject to potential manipulation.