Trading Aflac's Earnings (AFL, ALL, F)

As health and life insurance provider, Aflac (NYSE: AFL), is set to release fourth quarter earnings today, investors should know the tools at their disposal to help them realize a profit on this report.

Aflac is expected to report earnings per share (EPS) of $1.35 at the close of business today. This estimate is greater than the EPS reported same quarter last year, $1.18. Revenues are expected to be $5.59 billion this quarter compared with $4.60 billion at the same time last year.

Because analysts expect Aflac's earnings to beat those from last year, Aflac has a lot of pressure to report earnings that meet expectations or exceed them. Failure to meet expectations may lead to a similar downward spike that companies like Ford (NYSE: F) experienced (a 17% decline) following a worse-than-expected earnings report.

Competitors with Aflac include mostly privately held companies: American Fidelity, Transamerica, Benefit Communications, National Enrollment, Allstate (NYSE: ALL), Univers, Impact Interactive, and Farmington.

Investors should be wary when investing near earnings reports because stocks can perform either really well or really poorly in the hours and days following a report. Because analysts for Aflac have high expectations, investors should be aware that disappointing earnings could spell big short-term losses for those who chose to invest. The risky day trader may consider taking a short position in Aflac and hope for poor earnings in order to capitalize on the decline in the stock price.

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