Benzinga | Jun 30, 2021 12:00PM EDT

Acuity Brands's Earnings Outlook

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) announces its next round of earnings this Thursday, July 01. Here is Benzinga's everything-that-matters guide for this Thursday's Q3 earnings announcement.

Net Income, Earnings, 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

Wall Street expects EPS of $2.27 and sales around $839.75 million. Acuity Brands reported a profit of $1.94 per share when it published results during the same quarter last year. Sales in that period totaled $776.20 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.

If the company were to report earnings in line when it publishes results Thursday, earnings would be up 17.01%. Revenue would be up 8.19% on a year-over-year basis. Acuity Brands's reported EPS has stacked up against analyst estimates in the past like this: Quarter Q2 2021 Q1 2021 Q4 2020 Q3 2020EPS Estimate 2.09 1.84 2.03 1.22EPS Actual 2.12 2.03 2.35 1.94Revenue Estimate 834.28 M 788.07 M 828.40 M 741.62 MRevenue Actual 776.60 M 792.00 M 891.20 M 776.20 M

Stock Performance

For a full 12 months, the return has risen by 107.58%. Given that these returns are generally positive, long-term shareholders are probably relaxed going into this earnings release. Long-term shareholders are already enjoying 12-month gains prior to the announcement.

Do not be surprised to see the stock move on comments made during its conference call. Acuity Brands is scheduled to hold the call at 10:00:00 ET and can be accessed here.