Benzinga | Feb 19, 2021 10:25AM EST

Earnings Preview: Occidental Petroleum

On Monday, February 22, Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) will release its latest earnings report. Benzinga's outlook for Occidental Petroleum is included in the following 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

Occidental Petroleum's per-share loss will be near $0.58 on sales of $4.37 billion, according to Wall Street analysts. Occidental Petroleum's loss in the same period a year ago was $0.3 per share. Quarterly sales came in at $6.80 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 report earnings in line when it publishes results Monday, quarterly profit would be down 93.33%. Revenue would be down 35.7% on a year-over-year basis. 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 -0.72 -1.68 -0.62 -0.17EPS Actual -0.84 -1.76 -0.52 -0.30Revenue Estimate 4.28 B 3.88 B 5.18 B 6.45 BRevenue Actual 3.28 B 2.98 B 6.45 B 6.80 B

Stock Performance

Shares of Occidental Petroleum were trading at $25.26 as of February 18. Over the last 52-week period, shares are down 35.16%. Given that these returns are generally negative, long-term shareholders are probably a little upset going into this earnings release.

Do not be surprised to see the stock move on comments made during its conference call. Occidental Petroleum is scheduled to hold the call at 13:00:00 ET and can be accessed here.