Preview: Global Ship Lease's Earnings

On Monday, May 10, Global Ship Lease GSL 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 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 Global Ship Lease will report earnings of $0.51 per share on revenue of $70.69 million. Global Ship Lease earnings in the same period a year ago was $0.59 per share. Quarterly sales came in at $70.95 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 match the consensus estimate when it reports Monday, earnings would be down 13.56%. Sales would be down 0.36% from the year-ago period. In comparison to analyst estimates in the past, here is how the company's reported EPS stacks up:

Stock Performance

Shares of Global Ship Lease were trading at $14.51 as of May 06. Over the last 52-week period, shares are up 248.65%. Given that these returns are generally positive, long-term shareholders are probably satisfied going into this earnings release.

Do not be surprised to see the stock move on comments made during its conference call. Global Ship Lease is scheduled to hold the call at 10:30:00 ET and can be accessed here.