Earnings Preview for E W Scripps

On Friday, February 26, E W Scripps SSP will report its last quarter's earnings. Here is Benzinga's preview of the company's release.

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

Sell-side analysts expect E W Scripps's EPS to be near $1.28 on sales of $570.48 million. E W Scripps reported a profit of $0.13 per share when it published results during the same quarter last year. Sales in that period totaled $444.40 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.

If the company were to match the consensus estimate when it reports Friday, EPS would be up 884.62%. Sales would be up 28.37% 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 E W Scripps were trading at $19.64 as of February 24. Over the last 52-week period, shares are up 61.6%. Given that these returns are generally positive, long-term shareholders are probably happy going into this earnings release.

Do not be surprised to see the stock move on comments made during its conference call. E W Scripps is scheduled to hold the call at 09:30:00 ET and can be accessed here.