Financial “analysis” like this makes my head spin:
Earnings … were expected to beat expectations. [The Street]
The S&P 500 fell last week … It’s not that most companies are failing to beat expectations, but that they may not be blowing them out. [The Globe and Mail]
Front Barnett Associates in Chicago, an investment advisory firm … expects the company to beat expectations. [Reuters]
Apple earnings expected to beat estimates. [Seeking Alpha]
eBay beat earnings and revenue estimates after the close on Thursday, but the stock fell 5 points after hours because traders wanted more. [InternetNews]
Yahoo, Amazon expected to beat estimates. [Investor Place]
Apparently, it is not enough to beat expectations. You have to beat them by more than expected.
Its the nonsense that happens when accounting is based on absurd rules. They make their very conservative projections, and then everyone else makes realistic projections. Your conservative projections are called "expectations" but the market expectations are actually higher.