Forward Looking

"The following quarterly report, delivered by The Company's CEO, CFO and others will contain forward looking statements which may or may not reflect accurate portrayals of how events will in fact play out..." Something like that, anyway. If you've ever listened to a Wall Street company quarterly call, you'll have heard some legal waiver mumbo-jumbo like this.

The investor relations person and/or the company's general counsel will almost always read this waiver, because so many skeezy lawyers love chasing companies for a few million bucks because they didn't read the Street its "Miranda Rights."

Basically, a forward looking statement is a guess. A prognostication with only a bit of foresight. But companies make these claims because, well, at least it's something. That is, having a skosh of guidance as to how well or poorly a company is doing allows the investment community to make small adjustments along the way, rather than get one report every year or longer and have the stock make violent adjustments in short periods of time. The backward looking foci are designed for prisoners in a shower, and by making the forward looking waiver statement, company management hopes to avoid said backward-looking efforts.