R.R.Donnelley & Sons's Earnings: A Preview

On Tuesday, February 23, R.R.Donnelley & Sons RRD will release its latest earnings report. Benzinga's outlook for R.R.Donnelley & Sons is included in the following report.

Net Income, Earnings, And Earnings Per Share

Earnings and especially earnings per share (EPS) are useful measures of a company's profitability. Total earnings, which is also referred to as net income, equals total revenue minus total expenses. EPS equals to net income divided by the number of shares outstanding.

Earnings And Revenue

R.R.Donnelley & Sons earnings will be near $0.21 per share on sales of $1.16 billion, according to analysts. In the same quarter last year, R.R.Donnelley & Sons reported earnings per share of $0.44 on sales of $1.63 billion.

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 52.27% decrease for the company. Sales would have fallen 28.66% from the same quarter last year. The company's reported EPS has stacked up against analyst estimates in the past like this:

Stock Performance

Shares of R.R.Donnelley & Sons were trading at $2.81 as of February 19. Over the last 52-week period, shares are up 19.7%. Given that these returns are generally positive, long-term shareholders should be content going into this earnings release.

Do not be surprised to see the stock move on comments made during its conference call. R.R.Donnelley & Sons is scheduled to hold the call at 11:00:00 ET and can be accessed here.