Benzinga | Feb 3, 2021 10:04AM EST

Earnings Preview for Unum

On Thursday, February 04, Unum (NYSE:UNM) will release its latest earnings report. Here is Benzinga's outlook for the company.

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

Analysts predict Unum will report earnings of $1.19 per share on revenue of $2.98 billion. In the same quarter last year, Unum posted EPS of $1.41 on sales of $3.04 billion.

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 post earnings in line with the consensus estimate when it reports Thursday, EPS would be down 15.6%. Sales would have fallen 1.81% from the same quarter last year. Unum's reported EPS has stacked up against analyst estimates in the past like this:

Quarter Q3 2020 Q2 2020 Q1 2020 Q4 2020EPS Estimate 1.32 1.19 1.38 1.38EPS Actual 1.21 1.23 1.35 1.41Revenue Estimate 3.00 B 2.95 B 3.05 B 3.02 BRevenue Actual 3.00 B 3.02 B 2.87 B 3.04 B

Stock Performance

Over the past 52-week period, shares of Unum have declined 18.85%.

Do not be surprised to see the stock move on comments made during its conference call. Unum is scheduled to hold the call at 08:00:00 ET and can be accessed here.