A Preview Of US Ecology's Earnings

US Ecology ECOL unveils its next round of earnings this Thursday, February 25. Here is Benzinga's everything-that-matters guide for the earnings announcement.

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

US Ecology EPS is expected to be around $0.13, according to sell-side analysts. Sales will likely be near $230.62 million. In the same quarter last year, US Ecology announced EPS of $0.38 on revenue of $231.27 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.

The analyst consensus estimate would represent a 65.79% decrease in the company's earnings. Revenue would be down 0.28% from the year-ago period. Here is how the company's EPS has stacked up against analyst estimates in the past:

Stock Performance

Over the past 52-week period, shares of US Ecology have declined 10.17%. Given that these returns are generally negative, long-term shareholders are probably a little upset going into this earnings release.

Do not be surprised to see the stock move on comments made during its conference call. US Ecology is scheduled to hold the call at 10:00:00 ET and can be accessed here.