Preview: Blue Bird's Earnings

Blue Bird BLBD releases its next round of earnings this Wednesday, December 16. Here is Benzinga's essential guide to Blue Bird's Q4 earnings report.

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

Blue Bird EPS is expected to be around $0.35, according to sell-side analysts. Sales will likely be near $255.55 million. In the same quarter last year, Blue Bird reported EPS of $0.74 on revenue of $343.53 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 Wednesday, quarterly profit would be down 52.7%. Revenue would have fallen 25.61% from the same quarter last year. In comparison to analyst estimates in the past, here is how the company's reported EPS stacks up:

Stock Performance

Shares of Blue Bird were trading at $15.95 as of December 14. Over the last 52-week period, shares are down 26.46%. Given that these returns are generally negative, long-term shareholders are probably a little upset going into this earnings release.

Do not be surprised to see the stock move on comments made during its conference call. Blue Bird is scheduled to hold the call at 16:30:00 ET and can be accessed here.