Preview: Acorda Therapeutics's Earnings

On Tuesday, November 03, Acorda Therapeutics ACOR will release its latest earnings report. Benzinga's report can help you figure out the ins and outs of the earnings release.

What Are Earnings, Net Income, And Earnings Per Share?

Earnings and especially earnings per share (EPS) are useful measures of a company's profitability. Total earnings, which is also referred to as net income, equals total revenue minus total expenses. EPS equals to net income divided by the number of shares outstanding.

Earnings And Revenue

Acorda Therapeutics EPS loss is expected to be around $0.31, according to sell-side analysts. Sales will likely be near $29.29 million. Acorda Therapeutics reported a per-share loss of $0.46 when it published results during the same quarter last year. Sales in that period totaled $47.72 million.

Why Analyst Estimates And Earnings Surprises Are Important

Analysts who cover this company will publish forward-looking estimates of its revenue and EPS each quarter. Averaging together every EPS and revenue prediction that each analyst makes about a company in a quarter yields the "consensus estimates." A company posting earnings or revenue above or below the consensus estimate is known as an "earnings surprise" and may move the stock by a considerable margin.

If the company were to match the consensus estimate, earnings would be up 32.61%. Sales would be down 38.62% 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 Acorda Therapeutics were trading at $0.8742 as of October 29. Over the last 52-week period, shares are down 62.18%. Given that these returns are generally negative, long-term shareholders are probably down going into this earnings release.

Do not be surprised to see the stock move on comments made during its conference call. Acorda Therapeutics is scheduled to hold the call at 16:30:00 ET and can be accessed here.