Earnings Outlook For Northwest Natural Holding

On Wednesday, May 05, Northwest Natural Holding NWN will release its latest earnings report. Benzinga's outlook for Northwest Natural Holding is included in the following report.

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

Sell-side analysts expect Northwest Natural Holding's EPS to be near $1.82 on sales of $318.28 million. Northwest Natural Holding reported a profit of $1.58 per share when it published results during the same quarter last year. Sales in that period totaled $285.15 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.

The Wall Street estimate would represent a 15.19% increase in the company's earnings. Revenue would be have grown 11.62% from the same quarter last year. The company's reported EPS has stacked up against analyst estimates in the past like this:

Stock Performance

Shares of Northwest Natural Holding were trading at $54.29 as of May 03. Over the last 52-week period, shares are down 11.18%. Given that these returns are generally negative, long-term shareholders are probably a little upset going into this earnings release.

Do not be surprised to see the stock move on comments made during its conference call. Northwest Natural Holding is scheduled to hold the call at 11:00:00 ET and can be accessed here.