Benzinga | Jan 20, 2021 10:17AM EST

TAL Education's Earnings Outlook

TAL Education (NYSE:TAL) will be releasing its next round of earnings this Thursday, January 21. For all of the relevant information, here is your guide for Thursday's Q3 earnings announcement.

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

Wall Street analysts see TAL Education reporting earnings of $0.07 per share on revenue of $1.03 billion. TAL Education earnings in the same period a year ago was $0.09 per share. Quarterly sales came in at $862.36 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 report earnings in line when it publishes results Thursday, earnings would be down 22.22%. Sales would be up 19.44% from the year-ago period. Here is how the company's EPS has stacked up against analyst estimates in the past:

Quarter Q2 2020 Q1 2020 Q4 2020 Q3 2020EPS Estimate 0.12 0.02 0.04 0.09EPS Actual 0.08 0.18 -0.10 0.09Revenue Estimate 1.13 B 886.93 M 860.84 M 839.96 MRevenue Actual 1.10 B 910.66 M 857.68 M 862.36 M

Stock Performance

For a full 12 months, the return has risen by 39.27%. Given that these returns are generally positive, long-term shareholders are probably relaxed 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. TAL Education is scheduled to hold the call at 08:00:00 ET and can be accessed here.