Preview: Black Hills's Earnings

On Monday, November 02, Black Hills (NYSE: BKH) will release its latest earnings report. Decipher the announcement with Benzinga's help.

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

Wall Street analysts see Black Hills reporting earnings of $0.48 per share on sales of $405.50 million. In the same quarter last year, Black Hills reported EPS of $0.44 on revenue of $325.50 million.

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.

The analyst consensus estimate would represent a 9.09% increase in the company's earnings. Sales would be have grown 24.58% from the same quarter last year. Here is how the company's reported EPS has stacked up against analyst estimates in the past:

Stock Performance

Shares of Black Hills were trading at $57.57 as of October 29. Over the last 52-week period, shares are down 25.86%. Given that these returns are generally negative, long-term shareholders are probably unhappy going into this earnings release.

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