CNA Financial Earnings Preview

On Monday, May 03, CNA Financial CNA will release its latest earnings report. Benzinga's report can help you figure out the ins and outs of the earnings release.

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

CNA Financial EPS will likely be near $0.88 while revenue will be around $2.85 billion, according to analysts. CNA Financial EPS in the same period a year ago totaled $0.4. Sales were $2.29 billion.

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 120.0% increase in the company's EPS figure. Sales would be have grown 24.4% 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 CNA Financial were trading at $47.22 as of April 29. Over the last 52-week period, shares are up 54.22%. Given that these returns are generally positive, long-term shareholders are probably satisfied going into this earnings release.

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