Fifth Third Bancorp Earnings Preview

Fifth Third Bancorp FITB releases its next round of earnings this Thursday, January 21. Get the latest predictions in Benzinga's essential guide to the company's Q4 earnings report.

What Are Earnings, Net Income, 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 Fifth Third Bancorp reporting earnings of $0.69 per share on sales of $1.91 billion. Fifth Third Bancorp earnings in the same period a year ago was $0.68 per share. Quarterly sales came in at $2.27 billion.

What Are Analyst Estimates And Earnings Surprises, And Why Do They Matter?

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 post earnings in line with the consensus estimate when it reports Thursday, EPS would be up 1.47%. Sales would be down 15.75% on a year-over-year basis. Fifth Third Bancorp's reported EPS has stacked up against analyst estimates in the past like this:

Stock Performance

Shares of Fifth Third Bancorp were trading at $32.07 as of January 19. Over the last 52-week period, shares are up 8.17%. Given that these returns are generally positive, long-term shareholders should be content going into this earnings release.

Do not be surprised to see the stock move on comments made during its conference call. Fifth Third Bancorp is scheduled to hold the call at 09:00:00 ET and can be accessed here.