Preview: Cardiovascular Systems's Earnings

On Wednesday, November 04, Cardiovascular Systems CSII will release its latest earnings report. Here is Benzinga's outlook for the company.

Net Income, Earnings, 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

Wall Street analysts see Cardiovascular Systems reporting a quarterly loss of $0.22 per share on sales of $56.29 million. Cardiovascular Systems reported a loss of $0.17 when it published results during the same quarter last year. Sales in that period totaled $64.49 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 analyst consensus estimate would represent a 29.41% decline in the company's EPS figure. Revenue would be down 12.72% from the same quarter last year. The company's reported EPS has stacked up against analyst estimates in the past like this:

Stock Performance

Over the past 52-week period, shares of Cardiovascular Systems have declined 16.44%. Given that these returns are generally negative, long-term shareholders are probably a little upset going into this earnings release.

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