Benzinga | Feb 3, 2021 10:09AM EST

SkyWest's Earnings: A Preview

SkyWest (NASDAQ:SKYW) releases its next round of earnings this Thursday, February 04. Here is Benzinga's essential guide to SkyWest's Q4 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

SkyWest EPS loss is expected to be around $0.83, according to sell-side analysts. Sales will likely be near $522.34 million. SkyWest earnings in the same period a year ago was $1.43 per share. Quarterly sales came in at $743.59 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.

If the company were to match the consensus estimate when it reports Thursday, earnings would be down 158.04%. Revenue would be down 29.75% from the same quarter last year. Here is how the company's EPS has stacked up against analyst estimates in the past:

Quarter Q3 2020 Q2 2020 Q1 2020 Q4 2020EPS Estimate 0.42 -0.19 0.91 1.41EPS Actual 0.66 -0.51 0.59 1.43Revenue Estimate 448.28 M 329.89 M 715.61 M 736.20 MRevenue Actual 457.49 M 350.04 M 729.94 M 743.59 M

Stock Performance

Over the last 52-week period, shares are down 28.33%. Given that these returns are generally negative, long-term shareholders won't be happy going into this earnings release.

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