Earnings Outlook for Anthem

Anthem ANTM announces its next round of earnings this Wednesday, April 21. Here is Benzinga's everything-that-matters guide for this Wednesday's Q1 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

Based on Anthem management projections, analysts predict EPS of $6.51 on revenue of $32.94 billion. Anthem earnings in the same period a year ago was $6.48 per share. Quarterly sales came in at $29.45 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 report earnings in line when it publishes results Wednesday, earnings would be up 0.46%. Revenue would be have grown 11.86% from the same quarter last year. Here is how the company's reported EPS has stacked up against analyst estimates in the past:

Stock Performance

Shares of Anthem were trading at $379.58 as of April 19. Over the last 52-week period, shares are up 45.35%. 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. Anthem is scheduled to hold the call at 08:30:00 ET and can be accessed here.