Earnings Preview: First Midwest Bancorp

On Tuesday, July 20, First Midwest Bancorp FMBI will release its latest earnings report. Here is Benzinga's outlook for the company.

What Are Earnings, Net Income, 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

Sell-side analysts expect First Midwest Bancorp's EPS to be near $0.37 on sales of $188.21 million. First Midwest Bancorp EPS in the same period a year ago totaled $0.19. Sales were $178.22 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 match the consensus estimate, earnings would be up 94.74%. Revenue would be have grown 5.6% from the same quarter last year. First Midwest Bancorp's reported EPS has stacked up against analyst estimates in the past like this:

Stock Performance

Shares of First Midwest Bancorp were trading at $18.54 as of July 16. Over the last 52-week period, shares are up 37.04%. Given that these returns are generally positive, long-term shareholders are probably satisfied going into this earnings release.

Do not be surprised to see the stock move on comments made during its conference call. First Midwest Bancorp is scheduled to hold the call at 10:00:00 ET and can be accessed here.