Earnings Preview for Conn's

Conn's CONN releases its next round of earnings this Tuesday, December 08. Here is Benzinga's essential guide to Conn's's Q3 earnings report.

Net Income, Earnings, And Earnings Per Share

Earnings and especially earnings per share (EPS) are useful measures of a company's profitability. Total earnings, which is also referred to as net income, equals total revenue minus total expenses. EPS equals to net income divided by the number of shares outstanding.

Earnings And Revenue

Analysts expect Conn's earnings of $0.24 per share. Revenue will likely be around $345.19 million, according to the consensus estimate. Conn's reported a per-share profit of $0.61 when it published results during the same quarter last year. Sales in that period totaled $377.71 million.

Why Analyst Estimates And Earnings Surprises Are Important

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 report earnings in line when it publishes results Tuesday, earnings would be down 60.66%. Revenue would be down 8.61% from the same quarter last year. Here is how the company's reported EPS has compared to analyst estimates in the past:

Stock Performance

Shares of Conn's were trading at $13.89 as of December 04. Over the last 52-week period, shares are down 2.41%. Given that these returns are generally negative, long-term shareholders are likely unhappy going into this earnings release.

Do not be surprised to see the stock move on comments made during its conference call. Conn's is scheduled to hold the call at 11:00:00 ET and can be accessed here.