Preview: StealthGas's Earnings

On Wednesday, May 26, StealthGas GASS will release its latest earnings report. Benzinga's report can help you figure out the ins and outs of the earnings release.

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

Sell-side analysts are expecting StealthGas's loss per share to be near $0.03 on sales of $30.89 million. StealthGas EPS in the same period a year ago totaled $0.08. Sales were $34.38 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.

If the company were to report earnings in line when it publishes results Wednesday, earnings would be down 137.5%. Revenue would be down 10.14% from the year-ago period. Here is how the company's reported EPS has compared to analyst estimates in the past:

Stock Performance

Shares of StealthGas were trading at $3.18 as of May 24. Over the last 52-week period, shares are up 15.75%. Given that these returns are generally positive, long-term shareholders should be satisfied going into this earnings release.

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