Although the scorecard on the 2003 earnings season is nearly full, investors should be careful about jumping into a stock--or dumping it--solely on the basis of a hit or miss in the last quarter. Certainly, investor confidence has been buoyed by a resurgence in profits. Corporate earnings shot up about 28% in the fourth quarter of 2003 and climbed 18% for the entire year, according to Thomson First Call.
That's remarkable compared with minuscule profit growth in 2002 and a 17% decline in 2001. But investors shouldn't focus merely on the bottom line. They need to look beyond the numbers on...
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