Earnings Outlook for Plains GP Holdings

Plains GP Holdings PAGP releases its next round of earnings this Tuesday, February 09. Get the latest predictions in Benzinga's essential guide to the company's Q4 earnings 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

Plains GP Holdings EPS is expected to be around $0.3, according to sell-side analysts. Sales will likely be near $6.06 billion. In the same quarter last year, Plains GP Holdings reported earnings per share of $0.26 on revenue of $9.15 billion.

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.

If the company were to report earnings in line when it publishes results Tuesday, earnings would be up 15.38%. Sales would be down 33.8% from the year-ago period. Here is how the company's reported EPS has stacked up against analyst estimates in the past:

Stock Performance

Shares of Plains GP Holdings were trading at $8.98 as of February 05. Over the last 52-week period, shares are down 43.38%. Given that these returns are generally negative, long-term shareholders are probably a little upset going into this earnings release.

Do not be surprised to see the stock move on comments made during its conference call. Plains GP Holdings is scheduled to hold the call at 17:30:00 ET and can be accessed here.