Benzinga | Feb 2, 2021 10:20AM EST

A Preview Of Central Garden & Pet's Earnings

Central Garden & Pet (NASDAQ:CENT) announces its next round of earnings this Wednesday, February 03. Here is Benzinga's look at Central Garden & Pet's Q1 earnings report.

Net Income, Earnings, 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

Central Garden & Pet's per-share loss will be near $0.01 on sales of $555.53 million, according to Wall Street analysts. In the same quarter last year, Central Garden & Pet posted a loss of $0.08 per share on sales of $482.83 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.

The Wall Street estimate would represent a 87.5% increase in the company's earnings. Revenue would be up 15.06% from the year-ago period. Here is how the company's EPS has stacked up against analyst estimates in the past:

Quarter Q4 2020 Q3 2020 Q2 2020 Q1 2020EPS Estimate -0.06 0.80 0.74 -0.12EPS Actual 0.25 1.32 0.78 -0.08Revenue Estimate 595.00 M 724.05 M 692.90 M 476.20 MRevenue Actual 675.97 M 833.48 M 703.23 M 482.83 M

Stock Performance

Shares of Central Garden & Pet were trading at $42.58 as of February 01. Over the last 52-week period, shares are up 34.07%. Given that these returns are generally positive, long-term shareholders are probably content going into this earnings release.

Do not be surprised to see the stock move on comments made during its conference call. Central Garden & Pet is scheduled to hold the call at 16:30:00 ET and can be accessed here.