Benzinga | Feb 10, 2021 10:35AM EST

A Preview Of VeriSign's Earnings

On Thursday, February 11, VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) will report its last quarter's earnings. Here is Benzinga's preview of the company's release.

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

VeriSign earnings will be near $1.29 per share on sales of $320.35 million, according to analysts. In the same quarter last year, VeriSign announced EPS of $1.31 on revenue of $310.54 million.

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 match the consensus estimate, earnings would be down 1.53%. Revenue would be up 3.16% from the year-ago period. VeriSign's reported EPS has stacked up against analyst estimates in the past like this:

Quarter Q3 2020 Q2 2020 Q1 2020 Q4 2020EPS Estimate 1.25 1.32 1.28 1.33EPS Actual 1.28 1.32 1.42 1.31Revenue Estimate 316.14 M 312.65 M 309.25 M 310.25 MRevenue Actual 317.88 M 314.37 M 312.52 M 310.54 M

Stock Performance

Shares of VeriSign were trading at $200.29 as of February 09. Over the last 52-week period, shares are down 4.06%. Given that these returns are generally negative, long-term shareholders are probably unhappy going into this earnings release.

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