Guidance
A company's forecast for upcoming results, such as revenue or EPS for the next quarter or year, given in its earnings release or call.
Guidance is a company's own forecast of future results, typically for the next quarter or fiscal year, covering measures such as revenue, operating margin or EPS. Ranges are common. Companies may raise, maintain, lower or withdraw guidance, and each change is compared with the prior guidance and consensus.
On our site, guidance is shown with the old and new ranges. A change to the midpoint matters more than the width of the range.
Traders care because guidance often moves a stock more than the reported quarter does, since it sets expectations for the next period.
Worked example (illustrative numbers, not real data): a company guides next-quarter revenue to 950 to 1,000 million dollars, a midpoint of 975 million. Consensus is 980 million. The guidance midpoint sits below consensus, which may pressure the stock even if the reported quarter beat.