Earnings Preview: Kinder Morgan

Kinder Morgan KMI unveils its next round of earnings this Wednesday, January 20. Here is Benzinga's everything-that-matters guide for the earnings announcement.

Net Income, Earnings, 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

Analysts covering Kinder Morgan modeled for quarterly EPS of $0.24 on revenue of $3.04 billion. Kinder Morgan reported a profit of $0.26 per share when it published results during the same quarter last year. Sales in that period totaled $3.35 billion.

What Are Analyst Estimates And Earnings Surprises, And Why Do They Matter?

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 analyst consensus estimate would represent a 7.69% decline in the company's EPS figure. Sales would be down 9.31% 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

Over the past 52-week period, shares of Kinder Morgan have declined 25.57%. Given that these returns are generally negative, long-term shareholders are probably a little upset going into this earnings release.

Do not be surprised to see the stock move on comments made during its conference call. Kinder Morgan is scheduled to hold the call at 16:30:00 ET and can be accessed here.