Earnings Preview: Evolent Health

Evolent Health EVH announces its next round of earnings this Thursday, February 25. Here is Benzinga's everything-that-matters guide for this Thursday's Q4 earnings announcement.

What Are Earnings, Net Income, 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

Wall Street analysts see Evolent Health reporting a loss of $0.05 per share on revenue of $261.55 million. In the same quarter last year, Evolent Health announced EPS of $0.07 on revenue of $237.51 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 Thursday, quarterly profit would be up 28.57%. Sales would be up 10.12% from the same quarter last year. Here is how the company's EPS has stacked up against analyst estimates in the past:

Stock Performance

Shares of Evolent Health were trading at $19.87 as of February 23. Over the last 52-week period, shares are up 118.38%. Given that these returns are generally positive, long-term shareholders can be satisfied going into this earnings release.

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