Preview: Hillenbrand's Earnings

On Wednesday, November 11, Hillenbrand HI will release its latest earnings report. Here is Benzinga's outlook for the company.

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

Hillenbrand EPS will likely be near $0.56 while revenue will be around $620.38 million, according to analysts. In the same quarter last year, Hillenbrand reported EPS of $0.76 on revenue of $485.80 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 26.32% decrease in the company's earnings. Sales would be up 27.7% on a year-over-year basis. In comparison to analyst estimates in the past, here is how the company's reported EPS stacks up:

Stock Performance

Shares of Hillenbrand were trading at $32.05 as of November 09. Over the last 52-week period, shares are up 3.87%. Given that these returns are generally positive, long-term shareholders can be satisfied going into this earnings release.

Do not be surprised to see the stock move on comments made during its conference call. Hillenbrand is scheduled to hold the call at 08:00:00 ET and can be accessed here.