Preview: FBL Financial Group's Earnings

On Thursday, February 04, FBL Financial Group FFG will release its latest earnings report. Here is Benzinga's outlook for the company.

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 FBL Financial Group earnings of $1.14 per share. Revenue will likely be around $191.49 million, according to the consensus estimate. FBL Financial Group reported a profit of $1.41 per share when it published results during the same quarter last year. Sales in that period totaled $193.56 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 19.15% decline in the company's EPS figure. Sales would be down 1.07% from the year-ago period. The company's reported EPS has stacked up against analyst estimates in the past like this:

Stock Performance

Shares of FBL Financial Group were trading at $56.01 as of February 02. Over the last 52-week period, shares are down 3.75%. Given that these returns are generally negative, long-term shareholders are likely unhappy going into this earnings release.

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