Preview: Zuora's Earnings

On Thursday, December 03, Zuora ZUO will release its latest earnings report. Benzinga's report can help you figure out the ins and outs of the earnings release.

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

Sell-side analysts are expecting Zuora's loss per share to be near $0.05 on sales of $73.92 million. In the same quarter last year, Zuora posted EPS of $0.06 on sales of $71.82 million.

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.

If the company were to post earnings in line with the consensus estimate when it reports Thursday, EPS would be up 16.67%. Sales would be up 2.92% 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 Zuora were trading at $11.58 as of December 01. Over the last 52-week period, shares are down 26.03%. Given that these returns are generally negative, long-term shareholders are probably unhappy going into this earnings release.

Do not be surprised to see the stock move on comments made during its conference call. Zuora is scheduled to hold the call at 17:00:00 ET and can be accessed here.