Benzinga | Jan 27, 2021 10:18AM EST

Earnings Outlook for MSCI

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) will be releasing its next round of earnings this Thursday, January 28. For all of the relevant information, here is your guide for Thursday's Q4 earnings announcement.

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

Wall Street analysts see MSCI reporting earnings of $1.95 per share on sales of $444.52 million. MSCI earnings in the same period a year ago was $1.67 per share. Quarterly sales came in at $406.61 million.

Why Analyst Estimates And Earnings Surprises Are Important

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 analyst consensus estimate would represent a 16.77% increase in the company's EPS figure. Revenue would be up 9.32% from the year-ago period. Here is how the company's reported EPS has stacked up against analyst estimates in the past:

Quarter Q3 2020 Q2 2020 Q1 2020 Q4 2020EPS Estimate 1.8 1.67 1.68 1.61EPS Actual 2.2 1.77 1.90 1.67Revenue Estimate 422.69 M 410.11 M 416.08 M 402.29 MRevenue Actual 425.33 M 409.62 M 416.78 M 406.61 M

Stock Performance

Shares of MSCI were trading at $404.99 as of January 26. Over the last 52-week period, shares are up 35.49%. Given that these returns are generally positive, long-term shareholders should be content going into this earnings release.

Do not be surprised to see the stock move on comments made during its conference call. MSCI is scheduled to hold the call at 11:00:00 ET and can be accessed here.