A Preview Of Warrior Met Coal's Earnings

Warrior Met Coal HCC releases its next round of earnings this Wednesday, February 24. Get the latest predictions in Benzinga's essential guide to the company's Q4 earnings 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 an EPS loss of $0.33 and sales around $187.03 million. In the same quarter last year, Warrior Met Coal announced EPS of $0.23 on revenue of $204.90 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 243.48% decrease in the company's earnings. Revenue would be down 8.72% on a year-over-year basis. In comparison to analyst estimates in the past, here is how the company's reported EPS stacks up:

Stock Performance

Shares of Warrior Met Coal were trading at $23.65 as of February 22. Over the last 52-week period, shares are up 38.86%. 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. Warrior Met Coal is scheduled to hold the call at 16:30:00 ET and can be accessed here.