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Whisper Number
Term category: Stocks
In 10 words or less: An unofficial earnings expectation.  They're typically higher than the official estimate.

Definition: An unofficial earnings number that stock analysts on Wall Street are looking for when a company releases its earnings.

StockJargon Advice: Whisper numbers are absolute crap. It's mere speculation. Basically, an analyst reports an official earnings estimate number. But sometimes they believe a company should beat that number.

For example, let's say a company has earnings estimates of $0.35/share. The whisper number might be $0.37/share so everyone starts expecting that to happen. If the company releases $0.36/share of earnings, their stock will probably fall, even though they've beat their real forecasts! Investors can be stupid sometimes.

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