Earnings Preview: American Water Works Co

On Monday, May 03, American Water Works Co AWK will release its latest earnings report. Here is Benzinga's outlook for the company.

Net Income, Earnings, 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

Sell-side analysts expect American Water Works Co's EPS to be near $0.73 on sales of $850.71 million. In the same quarter last year, American Water Works Co reported EPS of $0.67 on revenue of $844.00 million.

Why Analyst Estimates And Earnings Surprises Are Important

Wall Street analysts who study this company will publish analyst estimates of revenue and EPS. The averages of all analyst EPS and revenue estimates are called the "consensus estimates"; these consensus estimates can have a significant effect on a company's performance during an earnings release. When a company posts earnings or revenue above or below a consensus estimate, it has posted an "earnings surprise", which can really move a stock depending on the difference between actual and estimated values.

The analyst consensus estimate would represent a 8.96% increase in the company's EPS figure. Revenue would be up 0.8% from the same quarter last year. American Water Works Co's reported EPS has stacked up against analyst estimates in the past like this:

Stock Performance

Shares of American Water Works Co were trading at $154.33 as of April 29. Over the last 52-week period, shares are up 27.12%. 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. American Water Works Co is scheduled to hold the call at 09:00:00 ET and can be accessed here.