Earnings Outlook for CSX

CSX CSX announces its next round of earnings this Tuesday, April 20. Here is Benzinga's everything-that-matters guide for this Tuesday's Q1 earnings announcement.

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

CSX EPS will likely be near $0.95 while revenue will be around $2.78 billion, according to analysts. In the same quarter last year, CSX reported EPS of $1.0 on revenue of $2.85 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 analyst consensus estimate would represent a 5.0% decline in the company's EPS figure. Sales would be down 2.63% from the same quarter last year. Here is how the CSX's reported EPS has stacked up against analyst estimates in the past:

Stock Performance

Shares of CSX were trading at $98.64 as of April 16. Over the last 52-week period, shares are up 66.14%. Given that these returns are generally positive, long-term shareholders can be satisfied going into this earnings release.

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