Press Release Company Reports Quarter Results Template

In plain language: A single declarative sentence naming the company, the period, and the most significant financial result — followed by a subheadline with the second most important metric.

Common mistake: Leading with a vague headline like 'Company Announces Financial Results.' Omitting the key number forces journalists to read the entire release before knowing whether the story is newsworthy — reducing pickup rates.

In plain language: The city of origin and release date, plus an embargo timestamp if the release is distributed to media before public disclosure.

Common mistake: Omitting the ticker symbol or exchange for publicly listed companies. Wire services and financial databases use ticker references to auto-tag releases to the correct security.

In plain language: A bulleted or tabular summary of the four to six most important financial metrics for the quarter — revenue, gross profit, operating income, net income, EPS, and free cash flow — with year-over-year comparisons.

Common mistake: Presenting only non-GAAP figures without the GAAP equivalent. Regulators, analysts, and journalists expect a reconciliation to GAAP; omitting it invites scrutiny and, for public companies, potential SEC comment letters.

In plain language: An attributed statement from the CEO that provides strategic context for the financial results — what drove performance, what the quarter signals about the business, and what the company is focused on next.

Common mistake: Writing a generic quote that could apply to any company in any quarter. Quotes with no specific data point or strategic insight are routinely cut by editors — defeating the purpose of including them.

In plain language: An attributed statement from the CFO focusing on margin performance, cash generation, balance sheet strength, or capital allocation decisions for the quarter.

Common mistake: Combining CEO and CFO commentary into one quote. Separate quotes signal organized leadership and give financial journalists two attributed sources — increasing the likelihood of each being used in coverage.

In plain language: Revenue, growth rates, and key operational metrics broken out by segment, geography, or product line — the detail beneath the consolidated headline numbers.

Common mistake: Reporting only consolidated results for companies with multiple material segments. Analysts model each segment separately — a release that hides segment-level detail generates follow-up questions that consume IR bandwidth.

In plain language: Management's forward-looking forecast for the next quarter and full fiscal year, expressed as specific ranges for revenue, EPS, or operating margin.

Common mistake: Providing guidance ranges so wide they convey no useful information. A $50M revenue range on a $200M company signals management has limited visibility — which itself becomes the story.

In plain language: A mandatory legal paragraph stating that any projections, estimates, or non-historical statements are forward-looking and subject to risks and uncertainties, with a reference to the company's most recent SEC filings or risk disclosure documents.

Common mistake: Using a safe harbor boilerplate that references SEC filings for a company that is not SEC-registered. Private companies and non-US issuers must adapt the disclaimer to reference their actual disclosure documents and applicable regulatory framework.

In plain language: A table reconciling each non-GAAP financial measure used in the release back to its closest GAAP equivalent, line by line, for both the current quarter and the comparable prior-year period.

Common mistake: Placing the reconciliation table as a footnote in small print or omitting it entirely. The SEC and equivalent regulators in Canada and the UK require a prominent, equally visible reconciliation whenever non-GAAP measures are presented.

In plain language: A standard two-to-three sentence description of the company used in every press release, followed by the name, phone number, and email address of the investor relations contact.

Common mistake: Using an outdated boilerplate that no longer reflects the company's current business or scale. A boilerplate that still describes a company as a 'startup' three years after its IPO undermines credibility with institutional investors.

A quarterly earnings press release is a formal public announcement a company issues to disclose its financial results for a completed fiscal quarter. It typically covers revenue, net income, earnings per share, key operational metrics, and management commentary on performance and outlook. Public companies distribute it via wire services simultaneously with or just before their SEC or exchange filings; private companies use it to update institutional investors, lenders, or board members.

In the United States, SEC-reporting companies are required to file quarterly financial statements on Form 10-Q, but the press release format is a market convention rather than a statutory mandate. In practice, exchange listing standards and investor expectations make quarterly earnings releases functionally required for any publicly traded company. In Canada, NI 51-102 requires quarterly disclosure; the UK's FCA and EU's Market Abuse Regulation impose their own periodic reporting obligations.

At minimum: total revenue with year-over-year growth, gross profit and gross margin, operating income or loss, GAAP net income, basic and diluted GAAP EPS, and free cash flow. Most companies also include at least one non-GAAP measure (adjusted EBITDA or non-GAAP EPS) with a full reconciliation. SaaS companies typically add ARR, net revenue retention, and customer count; retailers add comparable-store sales; manufacturers add units shipped and backlog.

A safe harbor statement is a legal disclaimer that protects a company from shareholder litigation when forward-looking statements — guidance, projections, strategic plans — do not come true, provided the statements are clearly labeled as forward-looking and accompanied by a meaningful description of material risks. For US companies, protection is provided under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Equivalent frameworks exist in Canada, the UK, and the EU. The disclaimer must reference specific risk disclosures in the company's filings to be effective.

GAAP earnings are calculated under standardized accounting rules — in the US, Generally Accepted Accounting Principles — and include all income statement items including stock-based compensation, depreciation, amortization of acquired intangibles, and restructuring charges. Non-GAAP earnings exclude one or more of these items to show what management believes is the underlying operating performance of the business. Both are valid — but non-GAAP figures must always be reconciled back to their GAAP equivalents in the same document.

Most IR teams begin drafting the template — including all sections except the financial figures — two to three weeks before the expected release date. Final figures are inserted after audit committee review, typically two to five days before distribution. The full release, including legal review of the safe harbor and non-GAAP reconciliation, should be board-approved at least 24 hours before the wire embargo lifts.

Yes. Private companies with institutional investors, significant bank debt, or voluntary disclosure commitments regularly issue quarterly results press releases. The format is identical to a public-company release, but the safe harbor references internal risk summaries rather than SEC filings, and the release may be distributed directly to stakeholders rather than via a public wire service.

Guidance is management's public forecast for the next quarter or full fiscal year, typically expressed as a dollar range for revenue and an EPS range. Ranges narrower than 3–5% of midpoint signal high management visibility; ranges wider than 10% signal limited confidence. Companies entering periods of significant market uncertainty sometimes withdraw guidance entirely rather than issue a range so wide it is not useful to analysts building financial models.

The CEO quote should provide strategic context — what drove performance, what the results signal about the company's market position, and what the company is prioritizing next. The CFO quote should focus on financial discipline — margin trends, cash generation, balance sheet strength, or capital allocation. Each quote must contain at least one specific financial figure and should not be interchangeable with a quote from any other company's earnings release.