Benzinga | Jul 13, 2021 10:14AM EDT

Earnings Preview: EXFO

On Wednesday, July 14, EXFO (NASDAQ:EXFO) will release its latest earnings report. Decipher the announcement with Benzinga's help.

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

Wall Street analysts see EXFO reporting earnings of $0.03 per share on revenue of $72.98 million. EXFO EPS in the same period a year ago totaled $0.01. Sales were $66.15 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 200.0% increase in the company's EPS figure. Revenue would be up 10.33% on a year-over-year basis. EXFO's reported EPS has stacked up against analyst estimates in the past like this: Quarter Q2 2021 Q1 2021 Q4 2020 Q3 2020EPS Estimate 0.04 0.03 0.06 -0.03EPS Actual -0.04 0.06 -0.02 0.01Revenue Estimate 71.19 M 70.89 M 65.33 M 59.59 MRevenue Actual 69.25 M 71.51 M 70.57 M 66.15 M

Stock Performance

Over the last 52-week period, shares are up 56.61%. Given that these returns are generally positive, long-term shareholders can relax 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. EXFO is scheduled to hold the call at 17:00:00 ET and can be accessed here.