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Today is Listener Question Day! Brian asks: Dear Linda: Thank you for podcast #125, which brought me back as I began to drift into investing outer space. I want to know how earnings forecasts are made; what are they based on? Are earnings forecasts the same as earnings predictions? Are they based on past earnings? Because I didn't think we used a company's historical data when looking at current market trends. Thanks, Brian  Thank you for the questions, Brian. Earnings forecasts are a compilation of information that is obtained by stock analysts at brokerage firms from a company's management and their own estimates. As you know from my podcast "What makes stocks go up?", earnings are what matters! Analysts are called "sell-side" analysts because they are "selling" their research to large pension funds, portfolio managers, and other institutional managers. Their job is to estimate what a company's quarterly and annual earnings will be. Since earnings are reported quarterly, 4 times a year the actual numbers ar