Earnings Preview for Campbell Soup

Campbell Soup CPB releases its next round of earnings this Wednesday, December 09. Here is Benzinga's essential guide to Campbell Soup's Q1 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

Wall Street analysts see Campbell Soup reporting earnings of $0.91 per share on sales of $2.32 billion. In the same quarter last year, Campbell Soup reported EPS of $0.78 on revenue of $2.18 billion.

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 match the consensus estimate when it reports Wednesday, earnings would be up 16.67%. Sales would be up 6.28% on a year-over-year basis. Campbell Soup's reported EPS has stacked up against analyst estimates in the past like this:

Stock Performance

For a full 12 months, the return has risen by 0.1%. Given that these returns are generally positive, long-term shareholders are probably relaxed going into this earnings release. Long-term shareholders are already enjoying 12-month gains prior to the announcement.

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