Earnings Outlook for Community Bank System

On Monday, January 25, Community Bank System CBU will release its latest earnings report. Benzinga's outlook for Community Bank System is included in the following 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 Community Bank System reporting earnings of $0.76 per share on revenue of $150.84 million. Community Bank System reported a per-share profit of $0.83 when it published results during the same quarter last year. Sales in that period totaled $149.86 million.

Why Analyst Estimates And Earnings Surprises Are Important

Wall Street analysts who study this company will publish analyst estimates of revenue and EPS. The averages of all analyst EPS and revenue estimates are called the "consensus estimates"; these consensus estimates can have a significant effect on a company's performance during an earnings release. When a company posts earnings or revenue above or below a consensus estimate, it has posted an "earnings surprise", which can really move a stock depending on the difference between actual and estimated values.

The Wall Street estimate would represent a 8.43% decline in the company's earnings. Sales would be up 0.65% from the year-ago period. Here is how the company's EPS has stacked up against analyst estimates in the past:

Stock Performance

Shares of Community Bank System were trading at $68 as of January 21. Over the last 52-week period, shares are down 1.38%. 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. Community Bank System is scheduled to hold the call at 11:00:00 ET and can be accessed here.