Preview: Hamilton Lane's Earnings

Hamilton Lane HLNE announces its next round of earnings this Thursday, May 27. Here is Benzinga's look at Hamilton Lane's Q4 earnings 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

Wall Street analysts see Hamilton Lane reporting earnings of $0.76 per share on sales of $87.19 million. In the same quarter last year, Hamilton Lane announced EPS of $0.59 on revenue of $76.93 million.

Why Analyst Estimates And Earnings Surprises Are Important

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 match the consensus estimate when it reports Thursday, earnings would be up 28.81%. Sales would be up 13.33% from the year-ago period. In comparison to analyst estimates in the past, here is how the company's reported EPS stacks up:

Stock Performance

Over the last 52-week period, shares are up 27.68%. Given that these returns are generally positive, long-term shareholders can relax going into this earnings release. Long-term shareholders are already enjoying 12-month gains prior to the announcement.

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