A Preview Of NanoString Technologies's Earnings

NanoString Technologies NSTG unveils its next round of earnings this Monday, March 01. Get prepared with Benzinga's ultimate preview for NanoString Technologies's Q4 earnings.

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, NanoString Technologies analysts modeled for a loss of $0.49 per share on sales of $34.65 million. In the same quarter last year, NanoString Technologies reported a loss per share of $0.63 on sales of $36.93 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 Monday, earnings would be up 22.22%. Revenue would be down 6.18% on a year-over-year basis. In comparison to analyst estimates in the past, here is how the company's reported EPS stacks up:

Stock Performance

Shares of NanoString Technologies were trading at $70.64 as of February 25. Over the last 52-week period, shares are up 107.3%. Given that these returns are generally positive, long-term shareholders are probably satisfied going into this earnings release.

Do not be surprised to see the stock move on comments made during its conference call. NanoString Technologies is scheduled to hold the call at 16:00:00 ET and can be accessed here.