Profit warning

Profit warning is a warning declaration issued by a listed company to investors through a stock exchange. It warns that the profit of the company in the coming quarter will obviously decline or even have a loss with that of the same quarter of previous year. Investors should be aware of the possible loss when buying or selling its stock.

Sometimes, profit warning is considered to be a neutral term and it refers to "estimated results improvement". Some companies may issue "profit warning" to inform that their expected profit will obviously increase in the coming quarter.