Inogen's Earnings Outlook

Inogen INGN unveils its next round of earnings this Tuesday, May 04. Get prepared with Benzinga's ultimate preview for Inogen's Q1 earnings.

What Are Earnings, Net Income, 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

Wall Street analysts see Inogen reporting a quarterly loss of $0.27 per share on sales of $79.38 million. Inogen EPS in the same period a year ago totaled $0.07. Sales were $88.49 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.

If the company were to post earnings in line with the consensus estimate when it reports Tuesday, EPS would be down 285.71%. Revenue would be down 10.29% from the same quarter last year. Inogen's reported EPS has stacked up against analyst estimates in the past like this:

Stock Performance

Shares of Inogen were trading at $65.39 as of April 30. Over the last 52-week period, shares are up 23.55%. 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. Inogen is scheduled to hold the call at 16:30:00 ET and can be accessed here.