The Most Important Piece Of Data To Track Ahead Of Earnings

Earnings season is kicking into high gear and Erin Gibbs, a portfolio manager with S&P Global, explained one key metric that investors can't afford to miss out on.

Wall Street analysts are always busy updating their models, price targets and earnings estimates, but any changes made in the days leading into an earnings report are quite notable, Gibbs said as a guest on CNBC's "Trading Nation."

Any estimate changes to a company close to the earnings report could give the most accurate insight as to whether a company will meet, beat, or miss earnings, she explained. For example, Facebook Inc FB will report its earnings next week and expectations over the past few weeks have been stable as the social media company has a solid reputation of being open and transparent with analysts.

Investors shouldn't expect any adjustments from the Street in the coming days -- but there is one, "that's important" for investors to know, Gibbs stated.

On the other hand, revisions to Alphabet Inc GOOG GOOGL's earnings report has been consistently moving lower for the past few months. With days to go before the report, any more last-minute revisions to the downside would be concerning.

At the same time, investors should consider that merely beating the Street's estimates isn't enough to boost a stock higher.

"Beating by less than 2 percent is really a miss these days," she concluded.

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