Preview: Public Service Enterprise's Earnings

Public Service Enterprise PEG announces its next round of earnings this Friday, October 30. Here is Benzinga's everything-that-matters guide for this Friday's Q3 earnings announcement.

Net Income, Earnings, And Earnings Per Share

Earnings and EPS are useful metrics of profitability. Total earnings also known as net income is equal to total revenue minus total expenses. Dividing net income by the total number of shares outstanding yields EPS.

Earnings And Revenue

Analysts predict Public Service Enterprise will report earnings of $0.97 per share on revenue of $2.47 billion. Public Service Enterprise reported a per-share profit of $0.98 when it published results during the same quarter last year. Sales in that period totaled $2.30 billion.

What Are Analyst Estimates And Earnings Surprises, And Why Do They Matter?

Wall Street analysts who study this company will publish analyst estimates of revenue and EPS. The averages of all analyst EPS and revenue estimates are called the "consensus estimates"; these consensus estimates can have a significant effect on a company's performance during an earnings release. When a company posts earnings or revenue above or below a consensus estimate, it has posted an "earnings surprise", which can really move a stock depending on the difference between actual and estimated values.

If the company were to post earnings in line with the consensus estimate when it reports Friday, EPS would be down 1.02%. Revenue would be up 7.3% from the year-ago period. Public Service Enterprise's reported EPS has stacked up against analyst estimates in the past like this:

Stock Performance

Over the last 52-week period, shares are down 7.49%. Given that these returns are generally negative, long-term shareholders won't be happy going into this earnings release.

Do not be surprised to see the stock move on comments made during its conference call. Public Service Enterprise is scheduled to hold the call at 11:00:00 ET and can be accessed here.