Lamb Weston Holdings's Earnings: A Preview

On Wednesday, April 07, Lamb Weston Holdings LW will release its latest earnings report. Benzinga's report can help you figure out the ins and outs of the earnings release.

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

Analysts covering Lamb Weston Holdings modeled for quarterly EPS of $0.52 on revenue of $819.94 million. Lamb Weston Holdings earnings in the same period a year ago was $0.77 per share. Quarterly sales came in at $937.30 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.

The analyst consensus estimate would represent a 32.47% decrease in the company's earnings. Revenue would be down 12.52% from the year-ago period. Lamb Weston Holdings's reported EPS has stacked up against analyst estimates in the past like this:

Stock Performance

Shares of Lamb Weston Holdings were trading at $80.5 as of April 05. Over the last 52-week period, shares are up 39.81%. 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. Lamb Weston Holdings is scheduled to hold the call at 10:00:00 ET and can be accessed here.