Earnings Preview for Old Dominion Freight

Old Dominion Freight ODFL announces its next round of earnings this Thursday, April 22. Here is Benzinga's everything-that-matters guide for this Thursday's Q1 earnings announcement.

Net Income, Earnings, 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 predict Old Dominion Freight will report earnings of $1.58 per share on revenue of $1.10 billion. In the same quarter last year, Old Dominion Freight posted EPS of $1.11 on sales of $987.36 million.

What Are Analyst Estimates And Earnings Surprises, And Why Do They Matter?

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.

The analyst consensus estimate would represent a 42.34% increase in the company's EPS figure. Revenue would be have grown 11.41% 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 Old Dominion Freight were trading at $247.64 as of April 20. Over the last 52-week period, shares are up 75.74%. Given that these returns are generally positive, long-term shareholders should be content going into this earnings release.

Do not be surprised to see the stock move on comments made during its conference call. Old Dominion Freight is scheduled to hold the call at 10:00:00 ET and can be accessed here.