Earnings Preview: Oxford Industries

Oxford Industries OXM releases its next round of earnings this Thursday, March 25. Get the latest predictions in Benzinga's essential guide to the company's Q4 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

Oxford Industries earnings will be near $0.21 per share on sales of $217.01 million, according to analysts. In the same quarter last year, Oxford Industries reported EPS of $1.09 on revenue of $297.60 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 Thursday, quarterly profit would be down 80.73%. Sales would have fallen 27.08% 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 Oxford Industries were trading at $81.24 as of March 23. Over the last 52-week period, shares are up 107.1%. Given that these returns are generally positive, long-term shareholders can be satisfied going into this earnings release.

Do not be surprised to see the stock move on comments made during its conference call. Oxford Industries is scheduled to hold the call at 16:30:00 ET and can be accessed here.