Earnings Outlook For eHealth

eHealth EHTH announces its next round of earnings this Thursday, April 29. Here is Benzinga's everything-that-matters guide for this Thursday's Q1 earnings announcement.

What Are Earnings, Net Income, 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

eHealth earnings will be near $0.07 per share on sales of $111.34 million, according to analysts. In the same quarter last year, eHealth reported earnings per share of $0.39 on revenue of $106.41 million.

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 Wall Street consensus estimate for earnings would represent a 82.05% decrease for the company. Sales would be up 4.63% 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 eHealth were trading at $70.53 as of April 27. Over the last 52-week period, shares are down 33.89%. Given that these returns are generally negative, long-term shareholders are probably down going into this earnings release.

Do not be surprised to see the stock move on comments made during its conference call. eHealth is scheduled to hold the call at 17:00:00 ET and can be accessed here.