Earnings Preview for FedEx

On Thursday, March 18, FedEx FDX will release its latest earnings report. Decipher the announcement with Benzinga's help.

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

Wall Street analysts see FedEx reporting earnings of $3.22 per share on revenue of $19.96 billion. In the same quarter last year, FedEx reported EPS of $1.41 on revenue of $17.49 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 128.37% increase in the company's earnings. Revenue would be up 14.14% 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 FedEx were trading at $260.92 as of March 16. Over the last 52-week period, shares are up 133.5%. Given that these returns are generally positive, long-term shareholders are probably happy going into this earnings release.

Do not be surprised to see the stock move on comments made during its conference call. FedEx is scheduled to hold the call at 17:30:00 ET and can be accessed here.