Preview: SBA Communications's Earnings

SBA Communications SBAC announces its next round of earnings this Monday, November 02. Here is Benzinga's look at SBA Communications's Q3 earnings report.

What Are Earnings, Net Income, 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

Sell-side analysts expect SBA Communications's EPS to be near $0.45 on sales of $516.04 million. In the same quarter last year, SBA Communications reported EPS of $0.19 on revenue of $507.55 million.

Why Analyst Estimates And Earnings Surprises Are Important

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.

The Wall Street consensus estimate for earnings would represent a 136.84% increase for the company. Sales would be up 1.67% on a year-over-year basis. Here is how the company's reported EPS has stacked up against analyst estimates in the past:

Stock Performance

Shares of SBA Communications were trading at $295.02 as of October 29. Over the last 52-week period, shares are up 25.1%. Given that these returns are generally positive, long-term shareholders are probably happy going into this earnings release.

Do not be surprised to see the stock move on comments made during its conference call. SBA Communications is scheduled to hold the call at 17:00:00 ET and can be accessed here.