, Columnists
Pandemic Seems to Last Forever. So Did Earnings Calls.
Analysts had questions, CEOs tried to give answers, sometimes for hours.
Covid-quarter earnings took a long time to explain.
Photographer: Runstudio/Digital Vision via Getty Images
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With the coronavirus pandemic turning the world’s economy upside down, analysts and investors have a lot of questions, and companies are doing their best to answer them. So if it feels like earnings calls were extra long these past few weeks, that’s because they were. Among the 29 members of the Dow Jones Industrial Average who normally have earnings calls and have held one since the beginning of March, 22 companies ran longer than usual by an average of about 10 minutes.