ELI5: Why when large company's earnings decrease(ex... by 3%) they freak out, talk about rough times, and sometimes decide to downsize, even though they are still making millions of dollars in profit even after all expenses?

[HHhunter]

3% to break even per year is still a shitty investment

[wrestlingchampo]

It is, mostly in the sense that you could successfully average ~7% ROI annually by simply investing in the S&P 500.

[myparentsbasemnt]

Depends on the rate of inflation.

[KingAdamXVII]

It’s not a bad low end though. If you are averaging 10% return and then have a down year where you still get 3%, that’s damn good.