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Earning forecasting is an important information used by corporation management and investors. Researches in the past tempt to forecast earnings more accurately with time series models. My research introduces a new tool - Artificial Neural Networks - to predict earnings, and will be compared with the traditional time series model - random walk. Through the empirical results, my research conclude that: ◆In forecasting the EPS and earnings before taxes of concrete industry and EPS of electric industry, random walk is better than artificial neural network. But in forecasting the earnings before taxes of electric industry, artificial neural network is better than random walk. ◆When forecasting earnings of concrete industry, RNBP is better than BP; while forecasting earnings of electric industry, BP is better than RNBP. ◆Using 3 inputs to forecast earnings of electric industry can have accurate result. When forecasting earnings of concrete inustry, BP will perform better with 5 inputs and RNBP will perform better with 3 inputs. ◆When forecasting earnings of concrete industry, it makes no difference use pooling samples or not. When forecasting earnings of electric industry, BP will perform better with pooling samples and RNBP will perform better with single company sample. ◆It seems that using financial ratios as input will not contribute to earning forecasting.
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