Jacobs Engineering Group Earnings Preview

On Tuesday, November 24, Jacobs Engineering Group J will release its latest earnings report. Decipher the announcement with Benzinga's help.

What Are Earnings, Net Income, 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

Analysts expect Jacobs Engineering Group earnings of $1.32 per share. Revenue will likely be around $3.42 billion, according to the consensus estimate. Jacobs Engineering Group reported a profit of $1.48 per share when it published results during the same quarter last year. Sales in that period totaled $3.39 billion.

What Are Analyst Estimates And Earnings Surprises, And Why Do They Matter?

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.

The analyst consensus estimate would represent a 10.81% decrease in the company's earnings. Sales would be up 0.8% from the year-ago period. The company's reported EPS has stacked up against analyst estimates in the past like this:

Stock Performance

Shares of Jacobs Engineering Group were trading at $103.91 as of November 20. Over the last 52-week period, shares are up 14.09%. Given that these returns are generally positive, long-term shareholders are probably happy going into this earnings release.

Do not be surprised to see the stock move on comments made during its conference call. Jacobs Engineering Group is scheduled to hold the call at 10:00:00 ET and can be accessed here.