Clorox Earnings Preview

Clorox CLX announces its next round of earnings this Friday, April 30. Here is Benzinga's everything-that-matters guide for this Friday's Q3 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

Sell-side analysts expect Clorox's EPS to be near $1.47 on sales of $1.87 billion. In the same quarter last year, Clorox reported earnings per share of $1.89 on revenue of $1.78 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 match the consensus estimate when it reports Friday, EPS would have fallen 22.22%. Revenue would be up 4.88% from the year-ago period. Here is how the Clorox's reported EPS has stacked up against analyst estimates in the past:

Stock Performance

Over the last 52-week period, shares are down 3.75%. Given that these returns are generally negative, long-term shareholders won't be happy going into this earnings release.

Do not be surprised to see the stock move on comments made during its conference call. Clorox is scheduled to hold the call at 13:30:00 ET and can be accessed here.