Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

US SEC preparing to scrap quarterly reporting requirement

reuters.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

381–390 of 491 posts

Re: US SEC preparing to scrap quarterly reporting requirement

#381

Post by iamtheworstdev »

nairboon wrote: post #295
hammock wrote: post #246

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, I mean I as a relatively junior employee literally got a daily email with nationwide same store sales (dollar amounts , aggregated region, and corporate, franchise, etc) vs prior day, week, month, year and if it was ever down on even day 1 or 2 of a promo like “LTO spicy chicken funbox” or whatever you can guarantee the CEO would be calling and trying to upend and reverse the 3+ months of work you put into that p…

That sounds more like a CEO issue than a reporting frequency issue.

That's a textbook example of Goodhart's Law isn't it?

Re: US SEC preparing to scrap quarterly reporting requirement

#382

Post by rigorclaw »

vessenes wrote: post #174
bizzletk wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you enumerate some examples of when it having less information is better than having more?

It’s a common complaint of value investors that boards (especially in this post-Sarbox world) are solely focused on quarterly earnings reports, to the detriment of long term strategy. One way to talk about the added and persistent value of some companies is to note that many of them have powerful, recalcitrant, or somehow anti-quarterly-cadence founders: buffet, zuck, you could make a list.

[flagged]

Re: US SEC preparing to scrap quarterly reporting requirement

#383

Post by giancarlostoro »

mcoliver wrote: post #120

Simultaneously they are opening up 0DTE options on certain stocks starting with large market caps but don't be surprised when this expands. Currently this was limited to large etfs like SPX. They are also extending trading hours towards 24/7 and eventually 365. How they square increasing liquidity with delaying information is insane. I know there is a lot of manipulation to make quarterly numbers and the tax code is…

> if companies reported dollars in and dollars out live to shareholders at least we would have an idea of how the company is doing in a general sense.

A former manager used to run his own company, it was a satellite internet company sometime in the 2000s, they were going into the negative, so they had a big TV in the office, showing everyday what was coming in, and how much they made vs how much they owed. They did it to motivate everyone to go back into the green. Really interesting approach. Might not work at larger companies, but in a small shop where everyone knows everyone, it makes sense.

Re: US SEC preparing to scrap quarterly reporting requirement

#384

Post by catlover76 »

GolfPopper wrote: post #317
SilverElfin wrote: post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a manipulation enabler. I’m surprised no one is mentioning this, but it’ll allow companies like SpaceX and Tesla to avoid scrutiny. The other changes the SEC and NASDAQ are rushing all have donors behind them. That’s how this openly corrupt administration works but it’s also how America has generally operated in the past, only to a smaller degree.

> This is a manipulation enabler. One facet of the Trump administration that still manages to surprise me is now some action that is nakedly corrupt, or stupid, or destructive will be undertaken, and people will scramble to come up with explanations for why it might be done in good faith, or as part of some clever plan. We've been watching Donald Trump operate in national politics for over a decade (and seen him in b…

[dead]

Re: US SEC preparing to scrap quarterly reporting requirement

#385

Post by deadbabe »

fourseventy wrote: post #162
alexpotato wrote: post #69

One of my favorite stories about logistics and quarterly earnings deadlines (from when I worked at a pharmaceutical company: "In our business, a truckload of various drugs can easily reach $10-$15 million. Now, if that truck arrives at the depot at 11:59pm March 31st then it's first quarter earnings. If it arrives at 12:01am April 1st then it's second quarter earnings. $15 million is a BIG shortfall, even for us, so…

That doesn't make any sense because the revenue is already booked for the sale which has nothing to do with when the delivery truck actually arrives.

That’s not why it doesn’t make sense. It doesn’t make sense because in the forward guidance you’d be able to say you expect the $15 million coming in.

Re: US SEC preparing to scrap quarterly reporting requirement

#386

Post by paulsutter »

mcoliver wrote: post #120

Simultaneously they are opening up 0DTE options on certain stocks starting with large market caps but don't be surprised when this expands. Currently this was limited to large etfs like SPX. They are also extending trading hours towards 24/7 and eventually 365. How they square increasing liquidity with delaying information is insane. I know there is a lot of manipulation to make quarterly numbers and the tax code is…

Don't invest in companies that disclose enough information.

They aren't banning quarterly reporting, they'd just no longer require it.

Re: US SEC preparing to scrap quarterly reporting requirement

#387

Post by munificent »

mcoliver wrote: post #194
munificent wrote: post #182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> if companies reported dollars in and dollars out live to shareholders at least we would have an idea of how the company is doing in a general sense. Goodhart's law is knocking on your door right now.

Help me understand what you are saying here. For those that don't know this one is "a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure". I'm not advocating for a single metric that can be gamed. A business is fundamentally about dollars in and dollars out. Maybe add receivables in there and a few other metrics from the P&L. I'm not trying to be prescriptive here on purely cash in and out. I do think there is…

All data that is externally visible about a public company will be consumed by traders and used to inform their market behavior.

Companies know this, thus every action they perform that affects an externally visible number is calculated both for the actual intent of the action, and how that action effects the number and the consequent market behavior.

This is why you see all sorts of moves that aren't strictly helpful for the business itself like being overly picky about which fiscal quarter certain expenses are taken in, etc. The more numbers about a company that are publicly visible, the more the company has to play this game.

Of course, visibility for traders is important for market efficiency too. But there is a balance there where you don't want to turn the functioning of a business too much into a perceived popularity game where it spends too much of its effort just making the numbers "look right" orthogonal to what's best for the business's functioning.

Re: US SEC preparing to scrap quarterly reporting requirement

#388

Post by nightski »

michaelsshaw wrote: post #294
bmitc wrote: post #264

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Private capital doesn't own the U.S.?

BREAKING: Countries other than "U.S." found to be members of so-called "world" Although I'm not sure what he's on either. Capitalists definitely own and exploit pretty much the entire world, with few exceptions.

I should of used the term "equity" instead of "capital". I meant that the worlds largest companies would no longer be able to be owned by public equity and would only be available to those in the exclusive club of private equity.

Re: US SEC preparing to scrap quarterly reporting requirement

#389

Post by vannevar »

fc417fc802 wrote: post #351
kakacik wrote: post #324

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yet we see it happening all the time with various AI deals.

I thought in that case nvidia was (approximately) purchasing stock in exchange for hardware? Which AFAIK is the entire point of stock - selling it to raise needed capital.

And if they actually constructed the deal that way, it would be fine. But by essentially creating a sham sale where they return the cash back to the customer in return for equity, Nvidia can book revenue and claim non-existent cash flow. The key is that the sale would not have happened without the corresponding equity deal. Nvidia had no discretion to use that cash any other way, so the "cash flow" in that case is illusory.

Re: US SEC preparing to scrap quarterly reporting requirement

#390

Post by red-iron-pine »

munificent wrote: post #387
mcoliver wrote: post #194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Help me understand what you are saying here. For those that don't know this one is "a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure". I'm not advocating for a single metric that can be gamed. A business is fundamentally about dollars in and dollars out. Maybe add receivables in there and a few other metrics from the P&L. I'm not trying to be prescriptive here on purely cash in and out. I do think there is…

All data that is externally visible about a public company will be consumed by traders and used to inform their market behavior. Companies know this, thus every action they perform that affects an externally visible number is calculated both for the actual intent of the action, and how that action effects the number and the consequent market behavior. This is why you see all sorts of moves that aren't strictly helpfu…

in other words, they know how data impacts stock price and do their best to game the data.
Post reply on HN