What is a whisper number and how do I find one?
A whisper number is the unofficial earnings forecast circulating among Wall Street professionals, usually a little above the published consensus. Earningswhispers.com lists it free alongside the confirmed report date, so you can see both the official expectation and the one the market is actually positioned for.
Key takeaways
- Earningswhispers.com is the tool. Search the company and it shows the next report date, the published consensus and the whisper number in one place.
- The whisper number is the unofficial forecast traded among professionals rather than the analyst consensus published everywhere. It is usually slightly higher.
- The gap between the two is the useful part. A company can beat the official consensus, miss the whisper, and the stock still falls — which is what surprises traders who only watched one number.
- The report date matters as much as the figure. Knowing whether it lands before the open or after the close decides whether you hold overnight.
- The site also shows the recent history of beats and misses, which tells you how reliably a company clears expectations.
- Check it before holding anything through a report. Earnings are the one scheduled event that can move a position further than your stop overnight.
- Not sure where your machine stands? The free benchmark test takes about two minutes.
Earningswhispers.com
So here are some really cool tools to find out when your company’s earnings are coming out and what the projections are. So one tool I like to use a lot is a website called earningswhispers.com. Go to the website and it looks like this. If you want to find out when a company you’re following’s next earnings release is going to be, this is the best place to do it. It tells you the date of the report, and it also tells you what the whisper number is. The best way to think of the whisper number is the unofficial and unpublished earnings forecast for the next quarter that’s so-called whispered among Wall Street professionals. It’s usually a little bit different than the published earnings forecast.Get Company Whisper Number
So let’s take a look at a company. Go to the box on the right, and type in a symbol. I’m going to look up Diamond Offshore right here. Then click Get, and here’s what comes up. It tells you what the consensus estimate is. That’s all of the analysts averaged together, what their estimate is for the quarter—66-cents—and then here’s the so-called whisper number—71-cents. So apparently Wall Street professionals seem to think earnings are going to beat the forecast. The release date is February 9th, 2015, before the open. And it’s confirmed. That means the company has acknowledged that this is the official release date, and this is the official release time.Other Helpful Information
There’s also some other interesting information on the page: expected growth and earnings. This is a minus-31% expected annual earnings growth. And so forth. You can even see analysts’ recommendations, their target levels, where certain options are trading, and other information.* * * * * *
Thanks for watching, and if you haven’t already, please feel free to download our Complete Guide to Trading Computers by clicking the link. This guide is packed with great tips so you can totally optimize your trading experience. Lastly, be sure to check out our latest trading computer sale by clicking the button at the top or clicking here. My name’s Eddie Z. Thanks for watching, and I’ll see you in the next video.Frequently Asked Questions
What is a whisper number?
The unofficial earnings forecast circulating among Wall Street professionals, as distinct from the consensus estimate published by analysts. It typically runs a little above the official figure because it reflects what the market genuinely expects rather than what firms will put their name to. It matters because a stock can beat the published consensus, miss the whisper, and still sell off — the whisper is the number the price is actually positioned against.
Where can I find whisper numbers?
Earningswhispers.com is the free source most traders use. Search a ticker and it shows the next confirmed report date, the analyst consensus, and the whisper number side by side, along with how that company has performed against expectations recently. There is no need to pay for any of it.
How do I find out when a company's earnings are coming out?
Earningswhispers.com lists confirmed report dates by company and by day, including whether the release is before the market opens or after it closes. That timing matters as much as the date — an after-close report means anything you hold overnight is exposed to a gap you cannot trade against.
What is the difference between a whisper number and the consensus?
The consensus is the published average of analyst estimates, on the record. The whisper is the informal figure professionals actually expect, which is usually higher. When they diverge widely, the reaction to an earnings release is much harder to predict, because different parts of the market are measuring the result against different expectations.
Should I hold a position through earnings?
That is a risk decision rather than a technical one, and it depends entirely on whether your plan accounts for a gap. An earnings release is the one scheduled event that can move a price past your stop while the market is closed, so a stop order offers no protection. Traders who do hold through earnings generally size the position for the possibility that the stop does not work.
