Earnings Preview: PC Connection

On Wednesday, February 24, PC Connection CNXN will report its last quarter's earnings. Here is Benzinga's preview of the company's release.

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

PC Connection EPS will likely be near $0.62 while revenue will be around $651.27 million, according to analysts. PC Connection reported a per-share profit of $0.83 when it published results during the same quarter last year. Sales in that period totaled $716.63 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 post earnings in line with the consensus estimate when it reports Wednesday, EPS would be down 25.3%. Revenue would be down 9.12% from the same quarter last year. The company's reported EPS has stacked up against analyst estimates in the past like this:

Stock Performance

Shares of PC Connection were trading at $51.66 as of February 22. Over the last 52-week period, shares are up 23.25%. Given that these returns are generally positive, long-term shareholders should be satisfied going into this earnings release.

Do not be surprised to see the stock move on comments made during its conference call. PC Connection is scheduled to hold the call at 16:30:00 ET and can be accessed here.