A new study by two professors at the University of Washington forces
one to conclude that the short-term fixation on quarterly earnings among
CEO’s and CFO’s of public companies is perhaps worse than imagined. They
interviewed 400+ such people and learned, among other things, that over
40% would drop a project that would add to long-term
profit growth if investing in it meant they’d miss analyst estimates
for the current quarter. Be grateful your firm is not NASDAQ-listed.