Benzinga | Apr 20, 2021 10:36AM EDT

Earnings Outlook for Healthcare Services Group

Healthcare Services Group (NASDAQ:HCSG) announces its next round of earnings this Wednesday, April 21. Here is Benzinga's everything-that-matters guide for this Wednesday's Q1 earnings announcement.

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

Based on management's projections, Healthcare Services Group analysts model for earnings of $0.27 per share on sales of $404.99 million. In the same quarter last year, Healthcare Services Group reported earnings per share of $0.27 on revenue of $449.15 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 analyst consensus estimate would represent a 0% decrease in the company's earnings. Revenue would be down 9.83% from the year-ago period. Here is how the company's reported EPS has stacked up against analyst estimates in the past:

Quarter Q4 2021 Q3 2020 Q2 2020 Q1 2020EPS Estimate 0.29 0.27 0.26 0.26EPS Actual 0.37 0.37 0.31 0.27Revenue Estimate 423.06 M 435.97 M 449.67 M 448.16 MRevenue Actual 423.18 M 435.95 M 452.03 M 449.15 M

Stock Performance

Shares of Healthcare Services Group were trading at $28.5 as of April 19. Over the last 52-week period, shares are up 19.5%. Given that these returns are generally positive, long-term shareholders should be satisfied going into this earnings release.

Do not be surprised to see the stock move on comments made during its conference call. Healthcare Services Group is scheduled to hold the call at 08:30:00 ET and can be accessed here.