Earnings Preview: Genworth Financial

Genworth Financial GNW unveils its next round of earnings this Thursday, April 29. Get prepared with Benzinga's ultimate preview for Genworth Financial's Q1 earnings.

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 Genworth Financial's EPS to be near $0.18 on sales of $1.96 billion. Genworth Financial reported a per-share profit of $0.07 when it published results during the same quarter last year. Sales in that period totaled $1.84 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 157.14% increase for the company. Sales would be up 6.7% from the year-ago period. Here is how the Genworth Financial's reported EPS has stacked up against analyst estimates in the past:

Stock Performance

Shares of Genworth Financial were trading at $3.815 as of April 27. Over the last 52-week period, shares are up 12.12%. 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. Genworth Financial is scheduled to hold the call at 09:00:00 ET and can be accessed here.