A Preview Of America's Car-Mart's Earnings

America's Car-Mart CRMT announces its next round of earnings this Monday, May 24. Here is Benzinga's look at America's Car-Mart's Q4 earnings report.

Net Income, Earnings, 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

Analysts covering America's Car-Mart modeled for quarterly EPS of $2.8 on revenue of $220.60 million. America's Car-Mart reported a per-share profit of $1.35 when it published results during the same quarter last year. Sales in that period totaled $195.69 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 report earnings in line when it publishes results Monday, quarterly profit would be up 107.41%. Revenue would be up 12.73% from the same quarter last year. Here is how the company's reported EPS has compared to analyst estimates in the past:

Stock Performance

Shares of America's Car-Mart were trading at $145.85 as of May 20. Over the last 52-week period, shares are up 82.28%. 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. America's Car-Mart is scheduled to hold the call at 11:00:00 ET and can be accessed here.