Benzinga | Feb 9, 2021 10:19AM EST

Preview: The Western Union's Earnings

The Western Union (NYSE:WU) 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

Analysts covering The Western Union modeled for quarterly EPS of $0.42 on revenue of $1.25 billion. The Western Union reported a per-share profit of $0.38 when it published results during the same quarter last year. Sales in that period totaled $1.31 billion.

Why Analyst Estimates And Earnings Surprises Are Important

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.

If the company were to post earnings in line with the consensus estimate when it reports Wednesday, EPS would be up 10.53%. Sales would have fallen 4.43% 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 0.46 0.34 0.42 0.43EPS Actual 0.57 0.41 0.44 0.38Revenue Estimate 1.24 B 1.08 B 1.23 B 1.32 BRevenue Actual 1.26 B 1.11 B 1.19 B 1.31 B

Stock Performance

Shares of The Western Union were trading at $23.24 as of February 08. Over the last 52-week period, shares are down 11.37%. 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. The Western Union is scheduled to hold the call at 16:30:00 ET and can be accessed here.