Earnings Preview for Verisk Analytics

Verisk Analytics VRSK announces its next round of earnings this Tuesday, February 23. Here is Benzinga's everything-that-matters guide for this Tuesday'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

Based on management's projections, Verisk Analytics analysts model for earnings of $1.3 per share on sales of $716.77 million. In the same quarter last year, Verisk Analytics reported EPS of $1.13 on revenue of $676.80 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.

If the company were to report earnings in line when it publishes results Tuesday, earnings would be up 15.04%. Sales would be up 5.91% from the year-ago period. Here is how the company's EPS has stacked up against analyst estimates in the past:

Stock Performance

Shares of Verisk Analytics were trading at $190.49 as of February 19. Over the last 52-week period, shares are up 15.76%. Given that these returns are generally positive, long-term shareholders should be satisfied going into this earnings release.

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