Preview: Assurant's Earnings

On Tuesday, February 09, Assurant AIZ will release its latest earnings report. Check out Benzinga's preview to understand the implications.

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

Sell-side analysts expect Assurant's EPS to be near $2.08 on sales of $2.54 billion. In the same quarter last year, Assurant reported EPS of $2.25 on revenue of $2.61 billion.

Why Analyst Estimates And Earnings Surprises Are Important

Wall Street analysts who study this company will publish analyst estimates of revenue and EPS. The averages of all analyst EPS and revenue estimates are called the "consensus estimates"; these consensus estimates can have a significant effect on a company's performance during an earnings release. When a company posts earnings or revenue above or below a consensus estimate, it has posted an "earnings surprise", which can really move a stock depending on the difference between actual and estimated values.

If the company were to post earnings in line with the consensus estimate when it reports Tuesday, EPS would be down 7.56%. Revenue would be down 2.53% on a year-over-year basis. Here is how the company's reported EPS has compared to analyst estimates in the past:

Stock Performance

Shares of Assurant were trading at $134.29 as of February 05. Over the last 52-week period, shares are down 3.53%. Given that these returns are generally negative, long-term shareholders are probably down going into this earnings release.

Do not be surprised to see the stock move on comments made during its conference call. Assurant is scheduled to hold the call at 08:00:00 ET and can be accessed here.