A new study by two professors at the University of Washington forces one to conclude that the short-term fixation on quarterly earnings among CEO's and CFO's of public companies is perhaps worse than imagined.  They interviewed 400+ such people and learned, among other things, that over 40% would drop a project that would add to long-term profit growth if investing in it meant they'd miss analyst estimates for the current quarter.  Be grateful your firm is not NASDAQ-listed.