Earnings Preview: Hillenbrand

Hillenbrand HI announces its next round of earnings this Tuesday, May 04. Here is Benzinga's everything-that-matters guide for this Tuesday's Q2 earnings announcement.

Net Income, Earnings, 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 Hillenbrand's EPS to be near $0.91 on sales of $707.05 million. In the same quarter last year, Hillenbrand posted EPS of $0.53 on sales of $648.90 million.

What Are Analyst Estimates And Earnings Surprises, And Why Do They Matter?

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.

If the company were to post earnings in line with the consensus estimate when it reports Tuesday, EPS would be up 71.7%. Revenue would be up 8.96% from the same quarter last year. Hillenbrand's reported EPS has stacked up against analyst estimates in the past like this:

Stock Performance

Over the last 52-week period, shares are up 153.83%. Given that these returns are generally positive, long-term shareholders can be content going into this earnings release.

Do not be surprised to see the stock move on comments made during its conference call. Hillenbrand is scheduled to hold the call at 08:00:00 ET and can be accessed here.