A Preview Of Kroger's Earnings

Kroger KR will be releasing its next round of earnings this Thursday, March 04. For all of the relevant information, here is your guide for Thursday's Q4 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

Analysts predict Kroger will report earnings of $0.69 per share on revenue of $30.86 billion. In the same quarter last year, Kroger reported earnings per share of $0.57 on revenue of $28.89 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 Wall Street estimate would represent a 21.05% increase in the company's earnings. Sales would be up 6.81% from the year-ago period. Here is how the Kroger's reported EPS has stacked up against analyst estimates in the past:

Stock Performance

Over the past 52-week period, shares of Kroger have declined 3.51%. Given that these returns are generally negative, long-term shareholders are probably a little upset going into this earnings release.

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