Genesco's Earnings: A Preview

On Friday, December 04, Genesco GCO will report its last quarter's earnings. Here is Benzinga's preview of the company's 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

Based on management's projections, Genesco analysts modeled for a loss of $0.13 per share on sales of $456.40 million. Genesco reported a profit of $1.33 per share when it published results during the same quarter last year. Sales in that period totaled $537.26 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 Friday, earnings would be down 109.77%. Revenue would be down 15.05% from the same quarter last year. Here is how the company's EPS has stacked up against analyst estimates in the past:

Stock Performance

Shares of Genesco were trading at $30.21 as of December 02. Over the last 52-week period, shares are down 37.42%. Given that these returns are generally negative, long-term shareholders are probably down going into this earnings release.

Do not be surprised to see the stock move on comments made during its conference call. Genesco is scheduled to hold the call at 08:30:00 ET and can be accessed here.