Earnings Outlook For Alexion Pharmaceuticals

Alexion Pharmaceuticals ALXN unveils its next round of earnings this Friday, April 30. Here is Benzinga's everything-that-matters guide for the earnings announcement.

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

Wall Street analysts see Alexion Pharmaceuticals reporting earnings of $3.16 per share on sales of $1.58 billion. In the same quarter last year, Alexion Pharmaceuticals reported EPS of $3.22 on revenue of $1.45 billion.

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 when it reports Friday, earnings would be down 1.86%. Revenue would be up 9.34% from the year-ago period. Alexion Pharmaceuticals's reported EPS has stacked up against analyst estimates in the past like this:

Stock Performance

Over the last 52-week period, shares of Alexion Pharmaceuticals are up 60.22%.

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