Earnings Outlook for Paychex

On Tuesday, April 06, Paychex PAYX will release its latest earnings report. Benzinga's report can help you figure out the ins and outs of the earnings release.

What Are Earnings, Net Income, 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

Based on management's projections, Paychex analysts model for earnings of $0.92 per share on sales of $1.11 billion. Paychex reported a profit of $0.97 per share when it published results during the same quarter last year. Sales in that period totaled $1.14 billion.

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.

The Wall Street estimate would represent a 5.15% decline in the company's earnings. Sales would have fallen 2.89% from the same quarter last year. Paychex's reported EPS has stacked up against analyst estimates in the past like this:

Stock Performance

Over the last 52-week period, shares of Paychex are up 54.32%.

Do not be surprised to see the stock move on comments made during its conference call. Paychex is scheduled to hold the call at 09:00:00 ET and can be accessed here.