NetEase Earnings Preview

On Tuesday, May 18, NetEase NTES will release its latest earnings report. Benzinga's outlook for NetEase is included in the following report.

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

NetEase EPS is expected to be around $0.97, according to sell-side analysts. Sales will likely be near $3.11 billion. In the same quarter last year, NetEase reported EPS of $4.54 on revenue of $2.41 billion.

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.

The analyst consensus estimate would represent a 78.63% decline in the company's EPS figure. Sales would be up 29.05% from the year-ago period. The company's reported EPS has stacked up against analyst estimates in the past like this:

Stock Performance

Shares of NetEase were trading at $105.34 as of May 14. Over the last 52-week period, shares are up 32.22%. 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. NetEase is scheduled to hold the call at 08:00:00 ET and can be accessed here.