A Preview Of US Bancorp's Earnings

US Bancorp USB announces its next round of earnings this Thursday, July 15. Here is Benzinga's everything-that-matters guide for this Thursday's Q2 earnings announcement.

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

Wall Street expects EPS of $1.14 and sales around $5.62 billion. US Bancorp EPS in the same period a year ago totaled $0.41. Sales were $5.81 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.

The analyst consensus estimate would represent a 178.05% increase in the company's EPS figure. Revenue would be down 3.34% from the same quarter last year. US Bancorp's reported EPS has stacked up against analyst estimates in the past like this:

Stock Performance

Over the last 52-week period, shares are up 51.68%. 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. US Bancorp is scheduled to hold the call at 09:00:00 ET and can be accessed here.