The article compares different ways of measuring earnings using stock prices. It looks at three main concepts and how they reflect risk and growth. One concept focuses on risk alone, another cancels out risk with growth, and the third is based on economic earnings. The study uses US data from 1976 to 2015 and finds that industrial firms' reported earnings are closer to the concept that cancels out risk with growth, while financial firms' earnings are closer to the risk-focused concept. This suggests that financial firms use accounting methods that align more closely with economic earnings.