Four times per year you will hear the phrases "top-line" and "bottom-line" as it pertains to earnings. Those four times per year is known as Earnings Season, which starts 2-weeks after the end of a quarter and last for one month. During earnings season (Mid-January-Mid-February, Mid-April-Mid-May, Mid-July-Mid August, Mid-October-Mid-November) a publicly traded company will have a earnings call (conference call) to discuss the business after a 10-Q (quarterly financial report) or after a 10-K (annual financial report) is filled with the SEC.
Top Line = Gross Sales/ Revenue of a company
Bottom Line = Net Income (Revenue minus Cost of doing business) of a company and is usually stated as EPS (Net Income/Shares outstanding) for media purposes and investor purposes.
