A Preview Of Western Alliance Bancorp's Earnings

Western Alliance Bancorp WAL announces its next round of earnings this Thursday, April 15. Here is Benzinga's everything-that-matters guide for this Thursday's Q1 earnings announcement.

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

Sell-side analysts expect Western Alliance Bancorp's EPS to be near $1.47 on sales of $337.46 million. In the same quarter last year, Western Alliance Bancorp reported earnings per share of $0.83 on sales of $274.13 million.

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 match the consensus estimate when it reports Thursday, EPS would be up 77.11%. Sales would be up 23.1% from the same quarter last year. Here is how the Western Alliance Bancorp's reported EPS has stacked up against analyst estimates in the past:

Stock Performance

Over the last 52-week period, shares of Western Alliance Bancorp are up 236.26%.

Do not be surprised to see the stock move on comments made during its conference call. Western Alliance Bancorp is scheduled to hold the call at 12:00:00 ET and can be accessed here.