How to read an earnings report: revenue, EPS, margins and guidance

Shortly after 7am New York time on 22 October 2026, American Airlines put two bottom lines for the same quarter on the SEC's EDGAR website: a GAAP net loss of $269m for Q3 2026 and an adjusted net loss of $182m. The gap between them is the items the company leaves out of its adjusted figure. Many companies announce quarterly results this way, in a press release and, at the same time, in a Form 8-K furnished to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), with the release attached as an exhibit. The examples here come from results American Airlines, Booz Allen Hamilton and Comfort Systems USA reported on 22 and 23 October 2026.

Results go under Item 2.02 of Form 8-K, Results of Operations and Financial Condition. According to Investor.gov, the SEC's investor education site, the financial disclosures in the 8-K typically summarize the full financial statements, which appear later in the quarterly report on Form 10-Q or the annual report on Form 10-K. The documents often announce a conference call, sometimes called an earnings call, held shortly after the release. All three companies used here furnished their releases to the SEC under Item 2.02 as Exhibit 99.1, and the public can find them on the SEC's EDGAR website.

Revenue is the top line, before any costs are taken off. The first thing to check is the comparison period. American Airlines reported total revenue of $16.3bn for the third quarter of 2026, up 19.3% from the third quarter of 2025, a figure the company called a third-quarter record. Booz Allen's revenue fell 3.9% to $2.78bn in its fiscal second quarter of 2027, from $2.89bn a year earlier. Booz Allen's fiscal year ends on 31 March, so that quarter is the three months to 30 September 2026, the same months as American's Q3 2026. Most comparisons in a release are year on year. Some also compare with the prior quarter, known as a sequential comparison.

Net income is what remains after all costs, interest and taxes; EPS divides it across the company's shares. US companies prepare their financial statements under generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP). Many also publish adjusted, or non-GAAP, figures. SEC rules set the terms. Item 10(e) of Regulation S-K requires a company presenting a non-GAAP measure to show the most directly comparable GAAP measure with equal or greater prominence, and SEC staff guidance says this applies to earnings releases furnished under Item 2.02. The staff says putting a non-GAAP measure before the GAAP one, or leaving the GAAP measure out, including in a release headline, gives the non-GAAP figure more prominence.

The gap between the columns is whatever the company excludes. American Airlines said its adjusted net loss excludes net special items after the effect of taxes; its GAAP net loss a year earlier, in Q3 2025, was $114m. Booz Allen defines adjusted net income as net income before certain other corporate expenses and acquisition amortization, each net of tax where appropriate. Its adjusted diluted EPS, up 18.1% year on year to $1.76, is calculated from that figure. Both releases include reconciliation tables. SEC staff guidance says non-GAAP measures are not always consistent across companies, and that one excluding normal, recurring, cash operating expenses needed to run the business could be misleading.

A margin shows a profit line as a share of revenue, which makes quarters of different sizes comparable. Comfort Systems USA, a US heating, ventilation, air conditioning and electrical contractor, reported Q3 2026 revenue of $3.77bn, against $2.45bn in Q3 2025. Its gross margin, gross profit as a share of revenue, held steady, while its GAAP operating margin rose. Selling, general and administrative (SG&A) expenses rose to $314.2m from $229.6m in dollars but fell as a share of revenue. The company also reports adjusted EBITDA, a non-GAAP measure it builds up from net income by adding back items including taxes, depreciation and amortization: $667.9m, against $413.9m a year earlier.

A single total can combine parts moving in opposite directions, so look for the breakdown and the labels the company uses. Booz Allen reports revenue by customer type. In fiscal Q2 2027, National Security revenue rose to $2,076m from $2,063m a year earlier, while Civil and Commercial revenue fell to $702m from $827m. Booz Allen said National Security now includes revenue from Defense and Intelligence customers that it previously reported separately, and that prior-period revenue has been presented to reflect the change. It also reports revenue excluding billable expenses, a non-GAAP measure that removes costs such as subcontractor and travel expenses. That figure slipped 0.8% year on year to $1.96bn.

Some companies report backlog, a measure of work under contract that has not yet become revenue. Each sets its own definition. Comfort Systems' backlog was $17.81bn on 30 September 2026, against $14.06bn on 30 June 2026, a sequential comparison, and $9.38bn on 30 September 2025, a year-on-year one. On what it calls a same-store basis, backlog was $17.39bn on 30 September 2026. The company cautions that backlog can be adjusted or cancelled and may fail to translate into actual revenue or profits.

Booz Allen reported total backlog of $41bn at 30 September 2026, up 1.9% year on year, made up of funded and unfunded amounts and priced options. Its quarterly book-to-bill ratio was 1.5x. Booz Allen calculates the ratio as net bookings, the change in total backlog during the period plus revenue for the period, divided by revenue for the period. On that definition, a ratio above 1x means backlog grew during the period.

Guidance is the company's own forecast for a coming quarter or year. Setting the new range against the previous one shows whether it was raised, reaffirmed (left unchanged), narrowed or cut, and Booz Allen's release does exactly that. On 23 October 2026, Booz Allen raised its fiscal 2027 adjusted diluted EPS guidance to $6.50-$6.70 from $6.00-$6.35. It narrowed its fiscal 2027 revenue range to $11.3bn-$11.6bn from $11.2bn-$11.7bn, raising the bottom and lowering the top. On 22 October 2026, American Airlines guided to an adjusted loss of $0.50 to $1.10 per diluted share for Q4 2026 and $1.00 to $1.60 for the full year 2026, and said it expects Q4 2026 revenue to rise 19.5% to 22.5% year on year.

Forecasts are often given only in non-GAAP terms. SEC staff guidance says a company may leave out the quantitative reconciliation for a forward-looking non-GAAP measure if it relies on the exception in Item 10(e)(1)(i)(B) of Regulation S-K. If the company does not say, as prominently as the forecast, that it relies on the exception, what information is unavailable and how significant it is likely to be, the staff would consider the forecast more prominent than the GAAP measure. American Airlines said it is unable to reconcile its adjusted loss guidance to GAAP because the nature or amount of net special items cannot be determined. Booz Allen said it omitted reconciliations for its outlook under the same item.