A Preview Of Abbott Laboratories's Earnings

On Tuesday, April 20, Abbott Laboratories ABT will release its latest earnings report. Benzinga's outlook for Abbott Laboratories is included in the following report.

What Are Earnings, Net Income, 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

Wall Street expects EPS of $1.27 and sales around $10.69 billion. In the same quarter last year, Abbott Laboratories reported earnings per share of $0.65 on sales of $7.73 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.

If the company were to match the consensus estimate, earnings would be up 95.38%. Revenue would be up 38.36% from the same quarter last year. Here is how the company's reported EPS has compared to analyst estimates in the past:

Stock Performance

Shares of Abbott Laboratories were trading at $124.4 as of April 16. Over the last 52-week period, shares are up 32.37%. 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. Abbott Laboratories is scheduled to hold the call at 09:30:00 ET and can be accessed here.