PulteGroup Earnings Preview

PulteGroup PHM announces its next round of earnings this Thursday, January 28. Here is Benzinga's everything-that-matters guide for this Thursday's Q4 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

PulteGroup EPS will likely be near $1.4 while revenue will be around $3.13 billion, according to analysts. In the same quarter last year, PulteGroup posted EPS of $1.14 on sales of $3.02 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 post earnings in line with the consensus estimate when it reports Thursday, EPS would be up 22.81%. Sales would be up 3.75% on a year-over-year basis. Here is how the company's EPS has stacked up against analyst estimates in the past:

Stock Performance

Shares of PulteGroup were trading at $47.6 as of January 26. Over the last 52-week period, shares are up 2.78%. Given that these returns are generally positive, long-term shareholders are probably satisfied going into this earnings release.

Do not be surprised to see the stock move on comments made during its conference call. PulteGroup is scheduled to hold the call at 08:30:00 ET and can be accessed here.