Earnings Preview: eHealth

On Thursday, February 18, eHealth EHTH 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

Wall Street analysts see eHealth reporting earnings of $2.84 per share on sales of $331.65 million. In the same quarter last year, eHealth reported EPS of $4.13 on revenue of $301.75 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 Wall Street consensus estimate for earnings would represent a 31.23% decrease for the company. Sales would be up 9.91% on a year-over-year basis. Here is how the company's EPS has stacked up against analyst estimates in the past:

Stock Performance

Shares of eHealth were trading at $53.74 as of February 16. Over the last 52-week period, shares are down 59.39%. 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. eHealth is scheduled to hold the call at 17:00:00 ET and can be accessed here.