Earnings Preview for LyondellBasell Industries

LyondellBasell Industries LYB unveils its next round of earnings this Friday, January 29. Get prepared with Benzinga's ultimate preview for LyondellBasell Industries's Q4 earnings.

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

Sell-side analysts expect LyondellBasell Industries's EPS to be near $1.36 on sales of $7.03 billion. LyondellBasell Industries reported a per-share profit of $1.92 when it published results during the same quarter last year. Sales in that period totaled $8.18 billion.

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 report earnings in line when it publishes results Friday, earnings would be down 29.17%. Revenue would be down 14.05% from the year-ago period. LyondellBasell Industries's reported EPS has stacked up against analyst estimates in the past like this:

Stock Performance

Shares of LyondellBasell Industries were trading at $86.01 as of January 27. Over the last 52-week period, shares are up 9.68%. Given that these returns are generally positive, long-term shareholders are probably happy going into this earnings release.

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