Earnings Outlook For United Natural Foods

On Wednesday, June 09, United Natural Foods UNFI will release its latest earnings report. Benzinga's report can help you figure out the ins and outs of the earnings release.

What Are Earnings, Net Income, 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

Wall Street analysts see United Natural Foods reporting earnings of $0.88 per share on revenue of $6.82 billion. United Natural Foods EPS in the same period a year ago totaled $1.4. Revenue was $6.67 billion.

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.

The Wall Street consensus estimate for earnings would represent a 37.14% decrease for the company. Sales would be up 2.28% from the same quarter last year. United Natural Foods's reported EPS has stacked up against analyst estimates in the past like this:

Stock Performance

Shares of United Natural Foods were trading at $39.9 as of June 07. Over the last 52-week period, shares are up 119.16%. 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. United Natural Foods is scheduled to hold the call at 08:30:00 ET and can be accessed here.