Earnings calls are typically a master class in how to get away with saying as little as possible. Executives ramble on with nonanswers about their “momentum” and “promising pipelines,” or offer vague forecasts of “corporate headwinds.” More often than not, they’re “excited” (sometimes even “really excited!”) about their latest product or initiative.
Call it corporate propaganda. Or just plain pablum. It’s one of the reasons that Alex Karp, CEO of Palantir, the defense software and artificial intelligence company now worth nearly a half-trillion dollars, didn’t want to do earnings calls in the first place.
