Earnings Preview: Portland General Electric

Portland General Electric POR unveils its next round of earnings this Friday, February 19. 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 predict Portland General Electric will report earnings of $0.41 per share on revenue of $553.33 million. In the same quarter last year, Portland General Electric reported earnings per share of $0.68 on sales of $548.00 million.

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 match the consensus estimate, earnings would be down 39.71%. Revenue would be up 0.97% from the year-ago period. Portland General Electric's reported EPS has stacked up against analyst estimates in the past like this:

Stock Performance

Shares of Portland General Electric were trading at $41.9 as of February 17. Over the last 52-week period, shares are down 32.36%. Given that these returns are generally negative, long-term shareholders are probably unhappy going into this earnings release.

Do not be surprised to see the stock move on comments made during its conference call. Portland General Electric is scheduled to hold the call at 11:00:00 ET and can be accessed here.