• Many companies use operating earnings to favorably skew their price-earnings (P/E) ratios. Because the rationales for the underlying calculations vary from company to company, and from period to period within a company, operating earnings are almost always artificially inflated and unreliable. The term operating earnings is meaningless under generally accepted accounting principles.
— Also termed pro forma earnings; economic earnings; core earnings; ongoing earnings; earnings excluding special items. See PRICE-EARNINGS RATIOO.