Gladstone Investment Earnings Preview

On Tuesday, May 11, Gladstone Investment GAIN will release its latest earnings report. Check out Benzinga's preview to understand the implications.

What Are Earnings, Net Income, 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

Gladstone Investment EPS is expected to be around $0.18, according to sell-side analysts. Sales will likely be near $14.06 million. Gladstone Investment reported a per-share profit of $0.19 when it published results during the same quarter last year. Sales in that period totaled $11.98 million.

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.

If the company were to report earnings in line when it publishes results Tuesday, quarterly profit would be down 5.26%. Sales would be up 17.34% from the year-ago period. Here is how the company's EPS has stacked up against analyst estimates in the past:

Stock Performance

Shares of Gladstone Investment were trading at $13.81 as of May 07. Over the last 52-week period, shares are up 26.78%. Given that these returns are generally positive, long-term shareholders can be satisfied going into this earnings release.

Do not be surprised to see the stock move on comments made during its conference call. Gladstone Investment is scheduled to hold the call at 08:30:00 ET and can be accessed here.