Earnings Outlook for Jabil

On Thursday, December 17, Jabil JBL will release its latest earnings report. Check out Benzinga's preview to understand the implications.

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, Jabil analysts model for earnings of $1.27 per share on sales of $7.03 billion. Jabil earnings in the same period a year ago was $1.05 per share. Quarterly sales came in at $7.51 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 report earnings in line when it publishes results Thursday, quarterly profit would be up 20.95%. Revenue would have fallen 6.34% from the same quarter last year. Here is how the company's reported EPS has stacked up against analyst estimates in the past:

Stock Performance

Shares of Jabil were trading at $41.5 as of December 15. Over the last 52-week period, shares are down 1.75%. 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. Jabil is scheduled to hold the call at 08:30:00 ET and can be accessed here.