Benzinga | Oct 28, 2020 10:13AM EDT

Earnings Outlook for Cerus

Cerus (NASDAQ: CERS) releases its next round of earnings this Thursday, October 29. Get the latest predictions in Benzinga's essential guide to the company's Q3 earnings report.

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 Cerus's loss per share to be near $0.1 on sales of $28.60 million. Cerus EPS in the same period a year ago totaled $0.13. Sales were $18.02 million.

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

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.

If the company were to match the consensus estimate when it reports Thursday, EPS would be up 23.08%. Sales would be up 58.72% on a year-over-year basis. Here is how the company's EPS has stacked up against analyst estimates in the past:

Quarter Q2 2020 Q1 2020 Q4 2020 Q3 2019EPS Estimate -0.11 -0.1 -0.11 -0.12EPS Actual -0.09 -0.1 -0.12 -0.13Revenue Estimate 25.89 M 23.12 M 25.30 M 22.80 MRevenue Actual 21.50 M 18.61 M 20.92 M 18.02 M

Stock Performance

Over the last 52-week period, shares of Cerus are up 33.33%.

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