Would you want to bet on earnings direction without dealing with IV crush or time decay?

The community highlights that standard long option positions suffer from implied volatility (IV) crush and time decay (theta) around earnings, which can erode profits even with a correct directional guess. To isolate the directional bet on earnings from these option-specific risks, one can directly buy or short-sell the underlying shares. Using equity is presented as a cleaner, more direct way to express a high-conviction view on an earnings move without the added variables of option pricing models. This approach eliminates leverage and defined-risk profiles of options. The entire capital is at risk to the stock's move, and short selling carries unlimited risk. It also requires more capital per position than buying options.