Worthington Industries Earnings: A Preview

On Wednesday, March 24, Worthington Industries WOR will release its latest earnings report. Here is Benzinga's outlook for the company.

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

Analysts predict Worthington Industries will report earnings of $1.25 per share on revenue of $872.50 million. Worthington Industries reported a profit of $0.64 per share when it published results during the same quarter last year. Sales in that period totaled $764.00 million.

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.

If the company were to match the consensus estimate, earnings would be up 95.31%. Revenue would be up 14.2% 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 Worthington Industries were trading at $67.7 as of March 22. Over the last 52-week period, shares are up 193.77%. 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. Worthington Industries is scheduled to hold the call at 14:00:00 ET and can be accessed here.