Earnings Preview for Stifel Financial

On Friday, January 29, Stifel Financial SF will report its last quarter's earnings. Here is Benzinga's preview of the company's release.

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

Stifel Financial earnings will be near $1.31 per share on sales of $956.62 million, according to analysts. In the same quarter last year, Stifel Financial posted EPS of $1.88 on sales of $944.25 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.

The Wall Street consensus estimate for earnings would represent a 30.32% decrease for the company. Sales would be up 1.31% from the same quarter last year. The company's reported EPS has stacked up against analyst estimates in the past like this:

Stock Performance

Shares of Stifel Financial were trading at $50.005 as of January 27. Over the last 52-week period, shares are up 18.98%. Given that these returns are generally positive, long-term shareholders should be satisfied going into this earnings release.

Do not be surprised to see the stock move on comments made during its conference call. Stifel Financial is scheduled to hold the call at 09:30:00 ET and can be accessed here.