Earnings Preview: CatchMark Timber Trust

CatchMark Timber Trust CTT unveils its next round of earnings this Thursday, February 11. Get prepared with Benzinga's ultimate preview for CatchMark Timber Trust's Q4 earnings.

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

Based on management's projections, CatchMark Timber Trust analysts modeled for a loss of $0.04 per share on sales of $26.75 million. CatchMark Timber Trust EPS in the same period a year ago totaled $0.24. Sales were $29.10 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 83.33% increase for the company. Sales would be down 8.06% from the year-ago period. CatchMark Timber Trust's reported EPS has stacked up against analyst estimates in the past like this:

Stock Performance

Over the last 52-week period, shares are up 1.18%. Given that these returns are generally positive, long-term shareholders can be content going into this earnings release.

Do not be surprised to see the stock move on comments made during its conference call. CatchMark Timber Trust is scheduled to hold the call at 10:00:00 ET and can be accessed here.