What are Financial Highlights?

Financial highlights summarize the key monetary results of an organization. These highlights are usually set forth in a separate section of the financial report of a publicly-held company to its shareholders. The types of information that may be found in a financial highlights section include:

Acquisition summaries. This states the nature of the acquisition, the revenues of the acquired entity, and whether the acquisition increased or decreased earnings per share.
Dividends. This states the amount of dividends paid, and whether there were any changes from the prior reporting periods.
Earnings per share. This addresses any significant changes in the earnings per share from prior reporting periods.
Liquidity statistics. This covers a standard set of liquidity ratios, noting the reasons for any significant changes.
Net cash flows. This covers the net amount of cash flows generated, and describes the reasons for any significant changes from prior periods.
New product performance. This covers the revenues and market share gained from new product introductions.
Performance statistics. This covers a standard set of metrics that management believes are representative of the overall performance of the business.
Profitability. This covers the percentage profit derived from each business segment, with commentary on any major changes.
Revenues. This covers the sales generated by each business segment, with comments about any significant changes.