Benzinga | Mar 30, 2021 10:08AM EDT

Consolidated Water Co's Earnings: A Preview

On Wednesday, March 31, Consolidated Water Co (NASDAQ:CWCO) will release its latest earnings report. Decipher the announcement with Benzinga's help.

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

Consolidated Water Co EPS is expected to be around $0.12, according to sell-side analysts. Sales will likely be near $18.50 million. Consolidated Water Co EPS in the same period a year ago totaled $0.11. Sales were $17.61 million.

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.

The Wall Street estimate would represent a 9.09% increase in the company's earnings. Revenue would be have grown 5.05% from the same quarter last year. Consolidated Water Co's reported EPS has stacked up against analyst estimates in the past like this:

Quarter Q3 2020 Q2 2020 Q1 2020 Q4 2020EPS Estimate 0.15 0.11 0.15 0.14EPS Actual 0.12 0.08 0.19 0.11Revenue Estimate 19.60 M 17.95 M 17.50 M 17.10 MRevenue Actual 17.67 M 19.09 M 20.73 M 17.61 M

Stock Performance

Shares of Consolidated Water Co were trading at $13.48 as of March 29. Over the last 52-week period, shares are down 6.58%. 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. Consolidated Water Co is scheduled to hold the call at 11:00:00 ET and can be accessed here.