Earnings Preview: Avient

Avient AVNT announces its next round of earnings this Friday, April 30. Here is Benzinga's everything-that-matters guide for this Friday's Q1 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

Based on management's projections, Avient analysts model for earnings of $0.72 per share on sales of $1.08 billion. Avient EPS in the same period a year ago totaled $0.48. Sales were $711.50 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 analyst consensus estimate would represent a 50.0% increase in the company's earnings. Revenue would be up 51.79% on a year-over-year basis. The company's reported EPS has stacked up against analyst estimates in the past like this:

Stock Performance

Shares of Avient were trading at $50.53 as of April 28. Over the last 52-week period, shares are up 100.04%. Given that these returns are generally positive, long-term shareholders should be satisfied going into this earnings release.

Do not be surprised to see the stock move on comments made during its conference call. Avient is scheduled to hold the call at 09:00:00 ET and can be accessed here.