Commercial Metals's Earnings: A Preview

Commercial Metals CMC announces its next round of earnings this Thursday, March 18. Here is Benzinga's everything-that-matters guide for this Thursday's Q2 earnings announcement.

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

Commercial Metals EPS will likely be near $0.59 while revenue will be around $1.46 billion, according to analysts. Commercial Metals earnings in the same period a year ago was $0.53 per share. Quarterly sales came in at $1.34 billion.

What Are Analyst Estimates And Earnings Surprises, And Why Do They Matter?

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.

If the company were to report earnings in line when it publishes results Thursday, quarterly profit would be up 11.32%. Sales would be up 8.87% on a year-over-year basis. Here is how the company's reported EPS has compared to analyst estimates in the past:

Stock Performance

Shares of Commercial Metals were trading at $28.33 as of March 16. Over the last 52-week period, shares are up 129.38%. Given that these returns are generally positive, long-term shareholders should be content going into this earnings release.

Do not be surprised to see the stock move on comments made during its conference call. Commercial Metals is scheduled to hold the call at 11:00:00 ET and can be accessed here.