Investing Guides on World Money RoadMap

How to Read Earnings Reports — Why a Stock Can Fall on Good Numbers

Sun, 25 Oct 2026 06:30:00 -0400

1. When and how earnings are released

U.S.-listed companies report results four times a year (once a quarter). Reports usually come out three to six weeks after the quarter ends, and the month or so starting in mid-January, April, July and October is called “earnings season.”

Release time: Most results come out before the market opens (7–8 a.m. U.S. Eastern Time) or after the close (after 4 p.m.). This is to avoid large swings in the share price during trading hours. After-hours results often move the stock sharply in extended trading, so the first reaction shows up before the next day’s open.
Original sources: The original documents are the investor relations (IR) press release on the company’s website and the 8-K filing submitted to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
You can see scheduled report dates and results in one place on this site’s Earnings Calendar page.

2. Four numbers you should check

Number	Meaning	Why it matters
Revenue	All the money brought in from selling goods and services	Shows how big the business is and whether it is growing
EPS (earnings per share)	Net income ÷ number of shares	The profit attributable to each share. The first number in earnings stories
Guidance	The company’s own outlook for the next quarter or full year	Share prices often react more to the future than to the past
Key business metrics	Cloud revenue, data center revenue, vehicle deliveries, advertising revenue, etc.	Show whether the company’s growth engine is actually getting bigger

Adjusted EPS vs. GAAP EPS: Companies often report both profit calculated under accounting standards (GAAP) and an “adjusted” profit that excludes one-off costs (legal settlements, restructuring charges, etc.). Different articles may use different figures, so check which basis is being used.

The FOMC and Interest Rates — How U.S. Rate Decisions Move Stocks, Crypto and Currencies

Sun, 25 Oct 2026 06:30:00 -0400

1. What is the FOMC?

The FOMC (Federal Open Market Committee) is the meeting at the Federal Reserve (the Fed), the U.S. central bank, that sets the benchmark interest rate. It holds eight regular meetings a year, usually over two days. In urgent situations it can also hold unscheduled meetings.

The Fed has two goals: price stability (inflation of roughly 2% a year) and maximum employment. The basic approach is to raise rates when inflation runs too hot and to cut rates when the economy cools.

How to Read 13F Filings — The Limits to Know When Looking at What Buffett Bought

Sun, 25 Oct 2026 06:30:00 -0400

1. What is a 13F?

A 13F (Form 13F-HR) is a holdings report that, under U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) rules, institutional investors managing $100 million or more in covered securities such as U.S.-listed stocks must file every quarter. Filers include Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, hedge funds such as Bridgewater, and large public pension funds and sovereign wealth funds.

Filing deadline: Within 45 days of quarter-end. That is why filings cluster in mid-February, May, August and November.
Original source: These are public records that anyone can view for free on the SEC’s electronic filing system (EDGAR).
This site’s Big Investors page reads the original EDGAR filings directly and compares the latest quarter with the previous quarter for 12 investors.

2. What a 13F shows

Item	Content
Name and ticker	Which company’s shares (or options on those shares) were held
Number of shares	Quantity held as of quarter-end
Market value	Value based on the quarter-end share price
Comparison with the previous quarter	(Must be compared yourself) Whether a position was newly bought, increased, reduced or sold entirely

3. The limits of 13F filings — what to keep in mind

Delayed information: The data are as of quarter-end and come out 45 days later, so by the time they are public, up to a month and a half has passed. The position may have been sold in the meantime.
Only part of the picture: Short sales (trades that bet on a falling share price), bonds, stocks traded outside the U.S., cash and so on do not appear. If the strategy is to buy on one side and hedge (offset risk) on the other, the intent cannot be known from a 13F alone.
No purchase prices: When and at what price shares were bought is not shown. Only the quarter-end market value is.
Small positions: Large funds hold many “trial” positions that make up less than 0.1% of the total. Look at the weight in the portfolio rather than the dollar amount.
Multiple portfolio managers: At large institutions, several managers invest separately, so a position may not reflect the judgment of the one famous investor.

4. How to read them

New positions and complete exits: These get the most attention because they can signal a change of view.
Stocks whose weight changed significantly: Changes in the weights of the top 10 holdings are key.
Common moves by multiple investors: A stock that several investors moved in the same direction is more meaningful than one investor’s move. The “Common Moves” section on the Big Investors page shows this.
Read alongside 13D and 13G: An investor whose stake in a company exceeds 5% must separately file a 13D (with intent to influence management) or a 13G (passive investment), and these come out much faster than a 13F.

5. Why “copycat buying” is risky

The strategy of buying the same stocks after seeing a 13F has major limits: the information is late, and each investor has different time horizons and risk management methods. Even for the same stock, the situation of a fund managing tens of billions of dollars is completely different from that of an individual. A 13F is best used as reference material for seeing trends in “which industries and companies are attracting interest.”

The Dollar and Your Portfolio — What a Strong or Weak Dollar Means for U.S. Stocks

Sun, 25 Oct 2026 06:30:00 -0400

1. How to read the dollar

The most common yardstick is the U.S. Dollar Index (DXY), which measures the dollar against a basket of six major currencies: the euro (by far the largest weight), the Japanese yen, the British pound, the Canadian dollar, the Swedish krona and the Swiss franc. When the DXY rises, the dollar is strengthening; when it falls, the dollar is weakening.

You can follow the DXY, 10-year Treasury yields and the VIX on this site’s Market Pulse page, and major currency pairs on the Currency Rates page.

The Semiconductor Cycle — Why Memory Prices Move Micron, Samsung and SK hynix

Sun, 25 Oct 2026 06:30:00 -0400

1. Two branches of semiconductors

Category	What it does	Major companies
Memory	Stores data. DRAM (fast temporary storage), NAND (long-term storage, SSDs and smartphones)	Micron, Samsung Electronics, SK hynix
Non-memory (system semiconductors)	Computation and control. CPUs, GPUs, AI accelerators, smartphone APs, etc.	Nvidia, AMD, Intel, Qualcomm
Foundry	Manufactures chips designed by other companies	TSMC, Samsung Electronics (foundry division)
Equipment and materials	Equipment and materials used to make chips	ASML, Applied Materials, Lam Research, KLA, Tokyo Electron

Note that Micron, Samsung Electronics and SK hynix earn most of their chip profits from memory, so they are the most exposed to this cycle.

How U.S. IPOs Work — From S-1 Filing to First Trade

Sun, 25 Oct 2026 06:30:00 -0400

1. What is an IPO?

An initial public offering (IPO) is a company’s first sale of shares to the public. After the IPO, the shares trade on an exchange such as the NYSE or Nasdaq, and anyone with a brokerage account can buy or sell them. You can see upcoming deals, price ranges and underwriters on this site’s IPO calendar.

2. The S-1: the company’s prospectus

Before going public, a company files a registration statement (Form S-1) with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Foreign companies listing in the U.S. often use Form F-1 instead. The S-1 includes: