Earnings Outlook for Aspen Aerogels

On Thursday, February 18, Aspen Aerogels ASPN will release its latest earnings report. Here is Benzinga's outlook for the company.

What Are Earnings, Net Income, 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 are expecting Aspen Aerogels's loss per share to be near $0.15 on sales of $26.75 million. Aspen Aerogels reported a loss of $0.04 when it published results during the same quarter last year. Sales in that period totaled $46.51 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.

If the company were to post earnings in line with the consensus estimate when it reports Thursday, EPS would be down 275.0%. Sales would be down 42.48% from the same quarter last year. Here is how the company's reported EPS has compared to analyst estimates in the past:

Stock Performance

For a full 12 months, the return has risen by 122.32%. Given that these returns are generally positive, long-term shareholders are probably relaxed going into this earnings release. Long-term shareholders are already enjoying 12-month gains prior to the announcement.

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