As the next earnings season comes into focus, investors will be keeping watch on the performance of companies that they own. A company that continually exceeds earnings projections is most likely on the right track. On the other end of the spectrum, a company that frequently misses earnings projections might provide some insight to the fact that something isn’t right. Although it is important to keep track of earnings estimates and results, it shouldn’t be the only thing that the investor is looking at regarding the stock. Just because a company misses or beats expectations for one quarter may not mean anything super special. Tracking performance over a longer period of time can help paint the bigger picture of what is going on with the company. Sharp investors often have the ability to look deeper into the numbers to see the actual causes of an earnings hit or miss. Of course estimates are just that, estimates, and some analysts may be more accurate than others.