Preview: AtriCure's Earnings

AtriCure ATRC announces its next round of earnings this Tuesday, April 27. Here is Benzinga's everything-that-matters guide for this Tuesday'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

Based on management's projections, AtriCure analysts modeled for a loss of $0.37 per share on sales of $56.06 million. AtriCure's loss in the same period a year ago was $0.36 per share. Quarterly sales came in at $53.23 million.

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

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 2.78% decrease in the company's earnings. Revenue would be up 5.33% 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 AtriCure were trading at $69 as of April 23. Over the last 52-week period, shares are up 74.76%. Given that these returns are generally positive, long-term shareholders are probably content going into this earnings release.

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