As the next earnings reporting period gets into full-swing, investors may be studying the projections for stocks that they own. Tracking the most recent releases may help investors make those crucial buy/sell decisions. Taking a look at some current earnings data, we see that the current quarter EPS consensus estimate for Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (NYSE:RCL) is 4.36. This EPS estimate consists of 8 sell-side analysts taken into consideration by Zacks Research. For the last reporting period, the company reported a quarterly EPS of 2.54. Wall Street analysts often provide their best researched estimates for what they think the company will report. For larger companies, there may be a many more analysts contributing to the consensus number. For smaller companies, there may be only one or two analysts providing estimates. Investors will often look at all the companies that beat EPS estimates for a given quarter, especially ones that surpassed expectations by a wide  margin.

One way to completely avoid market mistakes is to not invest at all. Of course, that could end up to be the greatest mistake of all. Investors will occasionally make some mistakes, as that comes with the territory. The key as with most things in life is to figure out how to learn from past mistakes and use that knowledge to make better decisions going forward. Pinpointing exactly what went wrong may help shed some light on what needs improvement. Sometimes, investors will suffer losses and become discouraged right out of the gate. The tendency is to then try to recoup losses by taking even bigger risks which can lead to complete disaster. One of the biggest differences between successful investors and failed investors is the willingness and ability to learn from past personal mistakes.

In the fast paced world of stock market investing, individuals are always looking for information to help provide an edge. Many investors will study sell-side analyst opinions to help assist with navigating the market. Turning the attention to shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (NYSE:RCL), we can see that the current average broker rating is now 1.46. This rating is provided by Zacks Research using a scale from 1 to 5. Following this scale, a 1 would indicate a Strong Buy and a 5 would represent a Strong Sell rating. Digging a little deeper, we can see that out of the polled analysts, 10 rated the stock a Strong Buy or Buy. This average broker rating may help investors decide if they feel the same way about the stock as the professionals.

Investors might be trying to gauge which way shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (NYSE:RCL) will swing over the next couple of quarters. In recent trading activity, the stock has been seen near the $107.37 level. Many investors pay increased attention to shares when they are nearing notable historical highs or lows. Over the past 52 weeks, the stock has touched a high price of 132.14, and seen a low price of 89.48. Looking at some additional historical stock price information, we note that shares have seen a move -13.25% over the previous 12 weeks. If we pull in closer to look at performance over the past month, we see that shares have seen a change of -2.73%. Over the last 5 trading sessions, the stock has moved -7.71%. Investors will most likely be keeping their eyes peeled to see how the stock performs heading into the next round of earnings reports.

With the stock market trading at current levels, investors may be tossing around ideas about how to trade the next few quarters. As we slip further into the second half of the year, investors may be assessing the latest earnings reports and trying to calculate the future prospects of certain stocks. Finding bargain stocks at current levels may be much harder than spotting hidden gems when markets are down. Plowing through the fundamentals may help sort out some of the questions that investors may have that come along with trading at these levels. Investors may have to do a little more homework in order to identify that next great trade, but the rewards may be well worth the extra time and effort.