GAAP vs non-GAAP earnings: Stock

Four times a year, public companies provide an in-depth look at their financial performance — and drilling into those figures is one of investors' most important jobs. But making sense of them isn't always easy. One big reason for confusion is that companies have some leeway on the specific metrics they highlight. In particular, we're talking about the "adjustments" that get made to metrics such as earnings per share and operating margin. This often shows up in earnings releases as GAAP versus non-GAAP results. It's fair for investors to ask: What's the difference between GAAP and non-GAAP? Should investors care about those adjustments in evaluating a company's performance and investment prospects? And if so, how do you know what is being adjusted for? Before we go about answering these qu