HCA Healthcare Earnings Preview

HCA Healthcare HCA announces its next round of earnings this Thursday, April 22. Here is Benzinga's everything-that-matters guide for this Thursday's Q1 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

HCA Healthcare EPS will likely be near $3.35 while revenue will be around $13.64 billion, according to analysts. In the same quarter last year, HCA Healthcare reported EPS of $2.33 on revenue of $12.86 billion.

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 Wall Street consensus estimate for earnings would represent a 43.78% increase for the company. Revenue would be have grown 6.06% 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

Over the last 52-week period, shares are up 87.71%. Given that these returns are generally positive, long-term shareholders can relax going into this earnings release. Long-term shareholders are already enjoying 12-month gains prior to the announcement.

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