Earnings Preview: Sensata Technologies

Sensata Technologies ST will be releasing its next round of earnings this Tuesday, February 02. For all of the relevant information, here is your guide for Tuesday's Q4 earnings announcement.

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

Wall Street analysts see Sensata Technologies reporting earnings of $0.78 per share on revenue of $896.75 million. Sensata Technologies EPS in the same period a year ago totaled $0.89. Sales were $846.69 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.

If the company were to report earnings in line when it publishes results Tuesday, quarterly profit would be down 12.36%. Sales would be have grown 5.91% 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 Sensata Technologies were trading at $54.5 as of January 29. Over the last 52-week period, shares are up 14.32%. 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. Sensata Technologies is scheduled to hold the call at 08:00:00 ET and can be accessed here.