Earnings Outlook For Agilent Technologies

Agilent Technologies A unveils its next round of earnings this Tuesday, May 25. Here is Benzinga's everything-that-matters guide for the earnings announcement.

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

Agilent Technologies earnings will be near $0.83 per share on sales of $1.40 billion, according to analysts. In the same quarter last year, Agilent Technologies announced EPS of $0.71 on revenue of $1.24 billion.

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.

If the company were to report earnings in line when it publishes results Tuesday, earnings would be up 16.9%. Revenue would be have grown 13.09% from the same quarter last year. Here is how the company's reported EPS has stacked up against analyst estimates in the past:

Stock Performance

Shares of Agilent Technologies were trading at $132.3 as of May 21. Over the last 52-week period, shares are up 54.73%. Given that these returns are generally positive, long-term shareholders should be content going into this earnings release.

Do not be surprised to see the stock move on comments made during its conference call. Agilent Technologies is scheduled to hold the call at 16:30:00 ET and can be accessed here.