Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. The response format is open.

How companies choose earnings release dates, & effect on Implied Volatility
I can't speak authoritatively to your broader question about stocks in general, but in several years tracking AAPL closely, I can tell you that there's little apparent pattern to when their earnings call will be, or when it will be announced. What little I do know:  - AAPL's calls tend to occur on a Tuesday more than any other day of the week  - it's announced roughly a month in advance, but has been announced w/ less notice  - it has a definite range of dates in which it occurs, typically somewhere in the 3rd week of the new quarter plus or minus a few days More broadly for #1: Given the underlying nature of what an option is, then yes, the day an earnings call date is announced could certainly influence the IV/price of options - but only for options that expire inside the "grey area" (~2 weeks long) window in which the call could potentially occur.  Options expiring outside that grey area should experience little to no price change in reaction to the announcement of the date - unless the date was itself surprising, e.g. an earlier date would increase the premium on earlier dated options, a later date would increase the premium for later-dated options. As for #2: The exact date will probably always be a mystery, but the main factors are:  - the historical pattern of earnings call dates (and announcements of those dates) which you can look up for any given company  - when the company's quarter ends  - potentially some influence in how long it takes the company to close out their books for the quarter (some types of businesses would be faster than others)  - any special considerations for this particular quarter that affect reporting ability And finally:   - a surprise of an earnings call occurring (substantively) later than usual is rarely going to be a good sign for the underlying security, and the expectation of catastrophe - while cratering the underlying - may also cause a disproportionate rise in IVs/prices due to fear