Matthews International's Earnings Outlook

Matthews International MATW releases its next round of earnings this Thursday, November 19. Get the latest predictions in Benzinga's essential guide to the company's Q4 earnings report.

What Are Earnings, Net Income, 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 analysts see Matthews International reporting earnings of $0.85 per share on revenue of $369.63 million. Matthews International EPS in the same period a year ago totaled $1.01. Sales were $392.40 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.

The analyst consensus estimate would represent a 15.84% decrease in the company's earnings. Sales would be down 5.8% 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 Matthews International were trading at $27.77 as of November 17. Over the last 52-week period, shares are down 21.48%. Given that these returns are generally negative, long-term shareholders are probably down going into this earnings release.

Do not be surprised to see the stock move on comments made during its conference call. Matthews International is scheduled to hold the call at 09:00:00 ET and can be accessed here.