Earnings Preview for Protalix BioTherapeutics

On Friday, May 14, Protalix BioTherapeutics PLX 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

Wall Street expects an EPS loss of $0.17 and sales around $10.95 million. Protalix BioTherapeutics earnings in the same period a year ago was $0.1 per share. Quarterly sales came in at $21.65 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 Wall Street consensus estimate for earnings would represent a 270.0% decrease for the company. Revenue would be down 49.41% from the year-ago period. Protalix BioTherapeutics's reported EPS has stacked up against analyst estimates in the past like this:

Stock Performance

Shares of Protalix BioTherapeutics were trading at $2.97 as of May 12. Over the last 52-week period, shares are down 0.08%. Given that these returns are generally negative, long-term shareholders are probably upset going into this earnings release.

Do not be surprised to see the stock move on comments made during its conference call. Protalix BioTherapeutics is scheduled to hold the call at 08:30:00 ET and can be accessed here.