Earnings Preview: Consolidated Water Co

On Monday, May 17, Consolidated Water Co CWCO will release its latest earnings report. Check out Benzinga's preview to understand the implications.

What Are Earnings, Net Income, 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

Consolidated Water Co EPS will likely be near $0.04 while revenue will be around $18.45 million, according to analysts. In the same quarter last year, Consolidated Water Co posted EPS of $0.19 on sales of $20.73 million.

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

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 Monday, EPS would be down 78.95%. Sales would be down 10.98% from the year-ago period. Consolidated Water Co's reported EPS has stacked up against analyst estimates in the past like this:

Stock Performance

Over the last 52-week period, shares are down 20.08%. Given that these returns are generally negative, long-term shareholders won't be happy going into this earnings release.

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