A Preview Of Charles River's Earnings

Charles River CRL will be releasing its next round of earnings this Wednesday, February 17. For all of the relevant information, here is your guide for Wednesday'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 Charles River reporting earnings of $2.1 per share on sales of $756.86 million. Charles River reported a profit of $2.01 per share when it published results during the same quarter last year. Sales in that period totaled $691.14 million.

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.

The analyst consensus estimate would represent a 4.48% increase in the company's earnings. Revenue would be have grown 9.51% from the same quarter last year. Here is how the Charles River's reported EPS has stacked up against analyst estimates in the past:

Stock Performance

Over the last 52-week period, shares of Charles River are up 65.28%.

Do not be surprised to see the stock move on comments made during its conference call. Charles River is scheduled to hold the call at 08:30:00 ET and can be accessed here.