Benzinga | Feb 9, 2021 10:33AM EST

A Preview Of Molina Healthcare's Earnings

Molina Healthcare (NYSE:MOH) unveils its next round of earnings this Wednesday, February 10. Here is Benzinga's everything-that-matters guide for the earnings announcement.

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

Molina Healthcare EPS will likely be near $0.89 while revenue will be around $5.30 billion, according to analysts. In the same quarter last year, Molina Healthcare announced EPS of $2.73 on revenue of $4.27 billion.

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, earnings would be down 67.4%. Revenue would be have grown 24.01% 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 2.16 4.57 2.94 2.65EPS Actual 3.36 4.79 3.02 2.73Revenue Estimate 4.83 B 4.71 B 4.47 B 4.28 BRevenue Actual 5.02 B 4.62 B 4.55 B 4.27 B

Stock Performance

Shares of Molina Healthcare were trading at $202.49 as of February 08. Over the last 52-week period, shares are up 42.33%. Given that these returns are generally positive, long-term shareholders can be satisfied going into this earnings release.

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