Benzinga | Feb 24, 2021 10:07AM EST

Earnings Preview: Edison Intl

Edison Intl (NYSE:EIX) announces its next round of earnings this Thursday, February 25. Here is Benzinga's look at Edison Intl's Q4 earnings report.

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

Edison Intl earnings will be near $1.2 per share on sales of $3.37 billion, according to analysts. Edison Intl reported a per-share profit of $0.99 when it published results during the same quarter last year. Sales in that period totaled $2.97 billion.

What Are Analyst Estimates And Earnings Surprises, And Why Do They Matter?

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.

The analyst consensus estimate would represent a 21.21% increase in the company's EPS figure. Revenue would be up 13.47% from the year-ago period. The company's reported EPS has stacked up against analyst estimates in the past like this:

Quarter Q3 2020 Q2 2020 Q1 2020 Q4 2020EPS Estimate 1.49 1.16 0.80 1EPS Actual 1.67 1 0.63 0.99Revenue Estimate 3.99 B 3.04 B 3.10 B 3.41 BRevenue Actual 4.64 B 2.99 B 2.79 B 2.97 B

Stock Performance

Over the last 52-week period, shares are down 20.85%. Given that these returns are generally negative, long-term shareholders won't be happy going into this earnings release.

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