What to Check When a Report's Publication Date and Analysis Date Differ
Distinguish publication dates, reference share-price dates, financial reporting periods, and information cutoffs. Avoid mixing later information into past judgments when reading delayed reports or corrected filings.
The publication date is when a document was released, while the analysis reference date identifies the information cutoff used for its judgment. Even within one report, share prices, financial statements, and industry statistics may refer to different dates, so check each separately.
Do not put every date in one column
It is easy to assume that every number is current as of the date on the report's first page. In your notes, separate the publication date, reference share-price date, financial reporting period, and release date of the underlying data. Financial position reflects balances at a particular point in time, while revenue and profit accumulate over a period. Even a report issued after quarter-end may contain estimates if final results for that quarter are not yet available. That is why you should check forecast markers beside table years and read the footnotes.
Do not mix current prices into an older document
The date an email was forwarded or a file downloaded is not its original publication date. Match the date in the brokerage's official listing to the report cover, and check the reference share price beside the target. You can recalculate upside using the current price, but label it separately from the return printed in the original. If a stock split, dividend, or share issuance occurred in between, check that prices and per-share figures use the same basis. An older document is not necessarily worthless, but using it for a current decision requires reviewing whether its assumptions still hold.
Evaluate past judgments using only information available at the time
Reviewing a report as though later corrections or earnings were known from the outset distorts the evaluation. Record the original information available then and the information that changed later on separate lines. Analyzing the company today with corrected figures serves a different purpose from evaluating the reasonableness of the earlier analysis. Checking receipt dates and report versions on DART helps trace this sequence. Overseas announcements can fall on different local and Korean dates, so record the time zone for events where the release time matters. In particular, a date in a filename may differ from the publication date in the document; check the cover and reference-date footnotes first.
Worked example
Hypothetical example: Suppose a report published on April 2 uses a March 31 share price of KRW 20,000 and the previous year's annual business report. If you read it on April 5, when the share price is KRW 22,000 and the target is KRW 26,000, the original upside is 30%, while the calculation at the time of reading is about 18.18%. If a new filing appeared on April 4, whether the target incorporates it is a separate question. Record the original calculation, the recalculation at the current price, and whether the new filing is reflected separately.
What to check
- Have you distinguished publication from redistribution dates?
- Have you recorded the reference price date and financial reporting period?
- Have you checked when estimates and actual results became available?
- Have you avoided mixing later information into the original judgment?
Sources and primary materials
This is educational material about research methods. For an actual company decision, verify the filings and primary sources for the relevant period.