Herbalife Nutrition's Earnings Outlook

On Wednesday, February 17, Herbalife Nutrition HLF will release its latest earnings report. Decipher the announcement with Benzinga's help.

What Are Earnings, Net Income, 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

Analysts expect Herbalife Nutrition earnings of $0.84 per share. Revenue will likely be around $1.45 billion, according to the consensus estimate. Herbalife Nutrition EPS in the same period a year ago totaled $0.74. Sales were $1.22 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.

The Wall Street consensus estimate for earnings would represent a 13.51% increase for the company. Revenue would be have grown 18.85% from the same quarter last year. In comparison to analyst estimates in the past, here is how the company's reported EPS stacks up:

Stock Performance

Shares of Herbalife Nutrition were trading at $55.56 as of February 15. Over the last 52-week period, shares are up 43.86%. 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. Herbalife Nutrition is scheduled to hold the call at 17:30:00 ET and can be accessed here.