Benzinga | Feb 2, 2021 10:08AM EST

Earnings Preview for TrueBlue

TrueBlue (NYSE:TBI) releases its next round of earnings this Wednesday, February 03. Get the latest predictions in Benzinga's essential guide to the company's Q4 earnings report.

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

Sell-side analysts expect TrueBlue's EPS to be near $0.18 on sales of $498.08 million. In the same quarter last year, TrueBlue reported EPS of $0.39 on revenue of $591.04 million.

What Are Analyst Estimates And Earnings Surprises, And Why Do They Matter?

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 53.85% decrease for the company. Revenue would have fallen 15.73% from the same quarter last year. Here is how the company's reported EPS has compared to analyst estimates in the past:

Quarter Q3 2020 Q2 2020 Q1 2020 Q4 2020EPS Estimate 0.08 -0.42 0.04 0.41EPS Actual 0.24 -0.12 -0.01 0.39Revenue Estimate 454.43 M 347.16 M 498.87 M 601.27 MRevenue Actual 474.53 M 358.94 M 494.25 M 591.04 M

Stock Performance

Shares of TrueBlue were trading at $19.41 as of February 01. Over the last 52-week period, shares are down 15.24%. Given that these returns are generally negative, long-term shareholders are probably upset going into this earnings release.

Do not be surprised to see the stock move on comments made during its conference call. TrueBlue is scheduled to hold the call at 17:30:00 ET and can be accessed here.