Earnings Outlook for Asbury Automotive Group

Asbury Automotive Group ABG unveils its next round of earnings this Tuesday, April 27. Here is Benzinga's everything-that-matters guide for the 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

Wall Street analysts see Asbury Automotive Group reporting earnings of $3.62 per share on sales of $2.06 billion. In the same quarter last year, Asbury Automotive Group reported earnings per share of $1.8 on sales of $1.61 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 post earnings in line with the consensus estimate when it reports Tuesday, EPS would be up 101.11%. Sales would be up 28.19% on a year-over-year basis. Here is how the company's reported EPS has compared to analyst estimates in the past:

Stock Performance

Shares of Asbury Automotive Group were trading at $211.18 as of April 23. Over the last 52-week period, shares are up 235.52%. 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. Asbury Automotive Group is scheduled to hold the call at 10:00:00 ET and can be accessed here.