Benzinga | Feb 9, 2021 10:14AM EST

Preview: Trimble's Earnings

Trimble (NASDAQ:TRMB) announces its next round of earnings this Wednesday, February 10. Here is Benzinga's everything-that-matters guide for this Wednesday'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 Trimble reporting earnings of $0.51 per share on revenue of $785.69 million. In the same quarter last year, Trimble announced EPS of $0.53 on revenue of $824.00 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.

If the company were to match the consensus estimate when it reports Wednesday, EPS would have fallen 3.77%. Revenue would have fallen 4.65% 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 0.38 0.41 0.47EPS Actual 0.60 0.52 0.49 0.53Revenue Estimate 718.17 M 702.09 M 779.60 M 784.61 MRevenue Actual 792.10 M 733.60 M 792.30 M 824.00 M

Stock Performance

Shares of Trimble were trading at $73.99 as of February 08. Over the last 52-week period, shares are up 67.73%. 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. Trimble is scheduled to hold the call at 17:00:00 ET and can be accessed here.