Question

In the Phrase "the firm was trading 96 times trailing earnings..." Can I understand "trailing earnings" as "expected earnings"?

Answer 1

trailing earnings means usually the most recent 12 months. So for instant, the trailing earnings in May of 2011 would be the earnings from Q2 2010, Q3 2010 Q4 2010 Q1 2011 earnings. So basically the earnings from the most recent four quarters. Expected earnings is usually either the median or mean earnings forecasts from analysts. Hope this is helpful~