Earnings Outlook For United Natural Foods

United Natural Foods UNFI releases its next round of earnings this Wednesday, March 10. Get the latest predictions in Benzinga's essential guide to the company's Q2 earnings 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

United Natural Foods earnings will be near $0.81 per share on sales of $6.91 billion, according to analysts. In the same quarter last year, United Natural Foods reported earnings per share of $0.32 on revenue of $6.14 billion.

Why Analyst Estimates And Earnings Surprises Are Important

Wall Street analysts who study this company will publish analyst estimates of revenue and EPS. The averages of all analyst EPS and revenue estimates are called the "consensus estimates"; these consensus estimates can have a significant effect on a company's performance during an earnings release. When a company posts earnings or revenue above or below a consensus estimate, it has posted an "earnings surprise", which can really move a stock depending on the difference between actual and estimated values.

The Wall Street estimate would represent a 153.13% increase in the company's earnings. Sales would be have grown 12.58% from the same quarter last year. Here is how the United Natural Foods's reported EPS has stacked up against analyst estimates in the past:

Stock Performance

Over the last 52-week period, shares of United Natural Foods are up 372.37%.

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