Preview: East West Bancorp's Earnings

East West Bancorp EWBC releases its next round of earnings this Thursday, January 28. Here is Benzinga's essential guide to East West Bancorp's Q4 earnings report.

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

Analysts expect East West Bancorp earnings of $1.03 per share. Revenue will likely be around $334.61 million, according to the consensus estimate. In the same quarter last year, East West Bancorp announced EPS of $1.28 on revenue of $368.22 million.

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.

The analyst consensus estimate would represent a 19.53% decrease in the company's earnings. Sales would be down 9.13% 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

Over the last 52-week period, shares are up 25.41%. Given that these returns are generally positive, long-term shareholders can be content going into this earnings release.

Do not be surprised to see the stock move on comments made during its conference call. East West Bancorp is scheduled to hold the call at 11:30:00 ET and can be accessed here.