Earnings Outlook for Jack In The Box

On Wednesday, November 18, Jack In The Box JACK 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 expects EPS of $1.13 and sales around $249.12 million. In the same quarter last year, Jack In The Box reported EPS of $0.95 on revenue of $221.24 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.

If the company were to report earnings in line when it publishes results Wednesday, earnings would be up 18.95%. Revenue would be up 12.6% from the year-ago period. Here is how the company's reported EPS has compared to analyst estimates in the past:

Stock Performance

Shares of Jack In The Box were trading at $87.58 as of November 16. Over the last 52-week period, shares are up 2.11%. 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. Jack In The Box is scheduled to hold the call at 11:30:00 ET and can be accessed here.