Benzinga | Feb 19, 2021 10:35AM EST

A Preview Of Viper Energy Partners's Earnings

On Monday, February 22, Viper Energy Partners (NASDAQ:VNOM) will release its latest earnings report. Check out Benzinga's preview to understand the implications.

What Are Earnings, Net Income, 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

Sell-side analysts are expecting Viper Energy Partners's loss per share to be near $0.01 on sales of $56.05 million. In the same quarter last year, Viper Energy Partners reported earnings per share of $0.03 on sales of $92.71 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 133.33%. Revenue would be down 39.54% on a year-over-year basis. Viper Energy Partners's reported EPS has stacked up against analyst estimates in the past like this:

Quarter Q3 2020 Q2 2020 Q1 2020 Q4 2020EPS Estimate -0.070 -0.10 0.01 0.17EPS Actual -0.003 -0.04 0.21 0.03Revenue Estimate 49.43 M 35.53 M 82.15 M 91.04 MRevenue Actual 62.94 M 32.67 M 78.69 M 92.71 M

Stock Performance

Shares of Viper Energy Partners were trading at $15.93 as of February 18. Over the last 52-week period, shares are down 24.18%. Given that these returns are generally negative, long-term shareholders are likely unhappy going into this earnings release.

Do not be surprised to see the stock move on comments made during its conference call. Viper Energy Partners is scheduled to hold the call at 11:00:00 ET and can be accessed here.